The Undiscovered Country: Returning Home
by HermioneHotchner1
Summary: Noah gets Lucy to help reach out to Uncle Rafa, but will he turn up? And have things changed in the three months that Rafael Barba's been gone? (Story adopted with permission)
1. Chapter 1

Three months. That's how long it had been from that cold day in February when Rafael had kissed Olivia on the forehead and told her that he had to move on. Three whole months she had gone without her best friend to talk to every day, and her trying to work with their new ADA.

But thankfully, after the first week of complete silence, Rafael reached out to Olivia. He wasn't sure how she would react to him on the phone but was delighted when she wanted to talk to him. He told her he would send postcards for both her and Noah if that was okay with her.

Noah looked forward to every postcard from 'Uncle Rafa.' It was his favourite part of the week and Olivia wanted to share that with Rafael; she did so by capturing a video of Noah running in through the door and going through the mail to find the postcard. His face was one that was the definition of happiness.

One of the days, Noah was reading the postcard with Lucy and he looked at Lucy. "Lucy, can you help me write a letter to Uncle Rafa? Err - I don't want Mama to know about the letter?"

The young woman was slightly surprised by Noah's request. She, naturally, knew he missed the man, but this was the first time that he asked to make contact with him. By agreeing to write it with him Lucy knew that she would be able to check if she needed to give the letter to Olivia before sending it to the address that Rafael had given them.

Lucy looked at the young boy. "Sure, Noah. We can write a letter together to your uncle."

Noah told Lucy what he wanted the letter to say and she wrote it for him but he wanted to sign his own name so that Uncle Rafa would know it was really from him. When they read over the letter and Noah was happy with it Lucy slipped it into her bag with the promise to post it first thing tomorrow morning for Noah.

A week from when Noah sent the letter they were at Noah's ball game. He had a big tournament today and all the kids were warming with someone, mostly their dads. The coaches had decided on this to try and get families more involved.

Olivia and the squad, along with Stone, were all there for Noah. Fin came over to Noah. "Hey, little man, do you want me or Uncle Sonny to warm up with you?" Noah shook his head, saying no.

Looking around, Olivia felt so guilty as Noah was the only one on his team not out there warming up with a male family member: not all were dads, as some had dads that worked outside of New York. She came over to her son running her hand over his curls. "Sweet boy, why don't you let Uncle Fin or Uncle Sonny warm up with you?"

Noah shook his head again. "No, Mama. I asked someone to come here and warm up with me."

Olivia was confused as she had no idea who Noah was talking about as almost everyone they knew was here, and she knew that Nick, Munch and Cragen weren't in town this weekend. Before she could ask him who he meant, Stone was standing beside them and Liv tried to smile and be nice, even though she had no idea what he was doing here.

Stone looked at Noah. "Noah, you know that I used to play ball and I would love to help you warm up."

Noah was getting frustrated with everyone asking him and he went to answer Mr. Stone when someone behind him caught his attention. Noah squealed. "Uncle Rafa!" Immediately, the young boy was running as fast as his legs would allow.

The whole squad turned around upon hearing Noah. They were convinced that Noah had to have been mistaken, but there before they're eyes was Rafael Barba in jeans, a t-shirt and with a slight beard. When Noah got closer, Rafael scooped him up into a hug, hugging him tightly. It was then that he realized just how much he had missed this little boy. Rafael carried Noah towards the squad as the young boy didn't want to be set down.

Noah smiled proudly at his mom and her squad. "See, Mama. I told you that I had asked someone to be here with me."

Olivia was shocked. She wasn't even sure how or why Rafael was here, but she wouldn't lie, it was so good to see him.

Rafael smiled. "Well, there was no way I was going to let you down, mi Amigo. Now, you mentioned something about us having to warm up, so let's go."

At the mention of playing ball, Noah squirmed to get down out of Rafael's arms and ran to get a ball for them to throw. The squad stood in shock watching Rafael who just smiled watching Noah run back to him.

He looked at Olivia. "I'm guessing Lucy and Noah didn't get around to telling you that they had invited me to come here today? If you want I can leave."

Olivia shook her head. "No, stay. Noah wants you here and so do I, Rafa. I'm just really surprised to see you, you didn't mention last night on the phone that you would be actually seeing me today."

Noah came running over pulling on Rafael's hand. "Uncle Rafa, lets play!"

Rafael looked at Noah and chuckled. "Ok, Amigo. I'm coming."

Rafael looked at Olivia. "I promise we will talk after the game." He squeezed her arm gently as he went over to Noah as they played catch as if they had been playing catch together every day. Rafael and Noah looked so at ease with each other.

Stone looked at Olivia. "I didn't realize that you were still in contact with Mr. Barba, Lieutenant."

Olivia looked at Stone. "I don't really see any reason that the D.A's office would need to know that I'm still in contact with Rafael."

Carisi smiled watching Rafael with Noah. "It's good to see him back where he belongs, with his family." He paused. "He looks different somehow."

Rollins nodded. "He looks like he's not carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders."

Fin looked at them both. "That's because he doesn't have to listen to Carisi go on about his crazy law ideas."

That got a laugh from both Olivia and Rollins. Especially when they saw the face that Carisi was pulling.

Stone looked at them all. "You do realize that he's not back? I will still be your ADA that won't change."

Olivia went to speak, but Fin cut in before her. "We're well aware of that, Counsellor, but we're glad to have Barba back with the family. It's where he belongs, whatever job he decides to do."

Olivia was getting pissed off at Stone's attitude concerning Rafael. Rollins noticed the look on the brunette woman's face. "Hey, guys, how about we go and get decent seats on the bleachers to make sure that Noah can not only hear us but can see us too."

Carisi went into full-on Italian family mode, getting the small banner that he had made for Noah, and he had brought snacks for everyone that his mother had made the night before.

Rafael ruffled Noah's hair and wished him good luck when their coach called them in. He then made his way back over to Olivia, and he smiled, taking the bottle of water that she offered to him. "Thank you. I am thankful I got back running the last few months or I think you would be taking me to a hospital right now. I forgot how much energy Noah has." He chuckled softly as he took a drink from the bottle watching Noah.

Olivia looked at Rafael. "So... how come you didn't tell me last night on the phone that you were coming back to the city?"

He wiped his mouth and looked at Olivia. "Liv, Noah sent me a letter a week ago. Lucy helped him write it and he asked me to be here today that everyone had to bring an important male in their life. In the letter he asked me not to mention it you unless you brought it up... so, when you didn't I guessed that he hadn't told you yet. Maybe he was afraid I wouldn't show up." Rafael looked down, swallowing. He hoped that the young boy who held a very special place in his heart didn't think that he would let him down.

Olivia put her hand on Rafael's arm. "He was probably afraid that I would get angry that he asked without telling me. You know what my sweet boy is like; he worries too much at times. Come on. Let's go join the others. I'm sure Carisi has plenty of questions for you."

Rafael groaned playfully. "Oh, come on, Liv. I'm here today for your son. Can't you threaten to put Carisi on Desk Duty if he starts asking me too many questions?"

Olivia shook her head laughing. "I'm not sure even that would stop him. Come on, Rafa. He hasn't seen you in three months, and he hasn't taken the same shine to Stone."

Rafael shook his head, laughing, walking with Olivia towards the rest of the squad - including Stone.

* * *

Is Barba Returning Home? is the original story. The other author (BarsonFan) abandoned the story and upon request gave me permission to continue the story where they left off.


	2. Chapter 2

Rafael was trying to hide the hurt on his face at the fact that Stone was there with them. He hadn't expected the squad to be treating Stone like family already as it had taken them some time to warm up to him.

He walked over to the bleachers with Olivia, walking close enough to her that their shoulders would brush against each other.

Stone spotted how close they were walking together as he looked at the squad. "So, were the rumours true? Were they more than just friends?"

Fin looked at Stone. "We may be family, but we try to stay out of that part of each other's lives. If there was something Liv wanted us to know then she would tell us."

Rafael let Olivia walk up the bleachers in front of him first, as he was trying to still an extra minute to calm his nerves. He had no idea how the squad were going to treat him today. The thought of it had kept him awake all night.

They had saved enough room for both Rafael and Liv to sit down beside each other, in the row in front of the squad.

Carisi patted his shoulder. "So, Counsellor, you going to tell us what you have been doing the last three months?"

Stone gritted his teeth. "I think you'll find I'm the one that's Counsellor now to you."

Rafael tried not to roll his eyes at Stone. "Give them a break, Stone. They really just aren't sure what to call me anymore." He turned his head to look at Carisi as he narrowed his eyes at the detective. "And don't even think about calling me Rafa. That is for Liv and Noah only."

Fin and Rollins were trying so hard not to laugh at Carisi's expression.

"Remind me why I missed being around you, Barba," the blond detective said.

Rafael chuckled softly as he looked briefly at Olivia before returning his gaze to Carisi once more. "Because you loved running your crazy law theories by me. To be honest, Carisi, I'm surprised I survived you shadowing me in court over that Thanksgiving period."

Olivia started to laugh, the first genuine laugh and smile her squad had seen from the day that Rafael left.

Rafael poked her in the side gently. "Hey, I don't know what you find so funny, Lieutenant. It was your fault and don't think that I have forgotten that." Rafael raised his eyebrow playfully as he nudged his shoulder against Olivia's gently, the nerves slowly starting to leave his body. She always had that effect on him, as long as she was close to him there was nothing that he couldn't take on.

Stone looked at the squad, feeling a little uncomfortable, and stood up. "I'm going to grab some coffee. Does anyone want some?"

The squad shook their heads but Olivia looked at Stone. "I'll take a large coffee please Stone if you don't mind."

Stone smiled thinking that he was getting Olivia on his side. "Of course not, Olivia. What way do you take your coffee?"

Olivia was surprised when he used her first name as that wasn't something that they did. She went to answer him, but Rafael jumped in before her. "One cream, two sugar, and ask for plenty of cinnamon." He didn't even lift his head to look at Stone and Olivia smiled when she heard Rafael.

"So, you haven't forgotten how I take my coffee then?" she smirked playfully.

Rafael raised his eyebrow. "You really think that after basically being your coffee supplier for six years that I would just forget in three months? Your words wound me, Lieutenant." Rafael dramatically put his hand over his heart pretending her words had visibly hurt him.

Stone cleared his throat. "You want anything, Barba?" He almost spat Rafael's name.

Rafael just took it in his stride knowing that was annoying him more. "No, I'm good. I'll just steal some of Liv's if I want some."

Olivia slapped Rafael's arm playfully as Stone just shook his head, walking away from the squad and towards the coffee cart.

Rafael waited until Stone was out of earshot and he looked at the squad. "So, he really doesn't like having me around then, huh?"

Rollins looked at Stone and then to Rafael. "I think he's fed up of us comparing him to you. And then there's the fact that we have maybe told him on a few too many occasions that you would have done things differently."

Fin looked at him. "Yeah, Barba, man. C'mon, can't you come back to the squad and save us from trying to break this new ADA in? It's just taking too long."

Rafael couldn't explain the flutter he got in his heart hearing them defend him so much after everything that he had done with baby Drew. He looked at the squad that he realized had become his family too. "Guys, go easy on him. Settling into SVU isn't an easy task, and especially not to a unit that is as tight as you guys are. He knows you guys are family to each other. He will get the hang of it, he just needs some more time."

There thankfully wasn't a line at the coffee cart and Stone was back in time to hear Barba saying someone would fit in with the squad. "I don't think Jack is just going to let you have your job back, Barba, after what you did." He handed the coffee to Liv smiling at her and he then stood a little too close to her.

Rafael looked at Stone. "I don't want my job back, Counsellor. Relax. Trust me, we both know Jack would send you back to Chicago if I told him I was back for good."

Stone looked at him. "You won't work in this town again as a lawyer, Barba, and especially not in the D.A's Office. You need to accept their no longer your team, and no matter what you do, that won't change."

He looked at Fin. "Wow, okay, if that's what I was like when I first joined SVU then you're right - calling me an asshole was being way too nice to me."

Stone looked at Rafael. "What the hell is that suppose to mean?" He had raised his voice a little at Barba who was doing his best to keep his temper in check for Noah's sake.

He looked at Stone. "I was telling the team to go easy on you and give you time to settle in, that it's tough to settle into SVU."

Stone fake laughed. "You trying to help me? I am pretty sure that's the last thing you would want to do since I've taken your place."

Rafael stood up, laughing. "You might have taken my job, Stone, but that's it. You haven't taken my place in any other way and don't be trying to fool yourself into thinking differently. And, if you want to keep raising your voice at me because my being here threatens you then I suggest you leave, We don't need you causing a scene at Noah's ball game." He sat back down beside Olivia as Noah waved over at them with a huge smile on his face

Stone went to argue back and Fin stood up. "I think its time you call it a day, Counsellor. Whatever you came to talk to us about can wait until we're back on duty."

Stone sighed in frustration and stormed off and Rafael leaned in closer to Olivia. "Is he always such an ass or do I just bring out that side in him?"


	3. Chapter 3

Olivia watched Stone walk away like a kid that had been put in a time-out and then looked at Rafael when she heard him speak.

"Nope, that's what he's always like, so now you see why you telling me to give him a chance just wasn't going to work."

He nodded. "He has a good reputation among lawyers, but I'm guessing he wants more from this team."

Olivia looked at him. "Well, we were kinda attached to our last ADA, so we don't really want another coming in and trying to replace him." She smiled softly at Rafael.

His heart was starting to beat faster hearing Olivia's words and seeing her smile. God, he had missed that smile more than he even realized.

The brunette looked at him again. "You know, he showed up at my apartment one night looking to go over a case. When I told him I don't discuss work at home he said that everyone in the D.A's office told him that we used to work outside the office all the time."

He was surprised to hear about Stone's actions. "So, he really was trying to replace me in every sense then?"

Carisi leaned forward a little so that the other families around didn't hear him. "He's lucky Liv didn't shoot him the next morning when he was, sitting, waiting for her in her office."

Rollins nodded. "Surprisingly, Carisi is actually right." She laughed softly when Carisi shouted 'Hey.' She then shook her head laughing. "I mean, did he really think that he was just going to just take over where you left off?"

Rafael was touched to hear how the team had defended him so much. Without thinking, he reached over and gently grabbed Olivia's hand, squeezing it lightly. "I'm sorry it hasn't been easy for you all to work with Stone, but thank you for sticking up for me so much."

Olivia felt like a teenager all over again when she felt like her body was on fire by Rafael simply touching her hand, she squeezed his hand back gently. "You don't have to thank me, Rafa. You're family. No one can take that away from you."

He couldn't find the words to explain how much her words meant to him and that was a first; Rafael Barba struggling to find words.

He was saved from trying to find the words when Noah's game started. The squad along with Rafael were without a doubt the loudest 'family' that was there, the cheering they did when Noah was involved in a play in the game was making the young boy giggle and laugh so much.

Olivia couldn't remember the last time she had seen her son look so happy.

The squad were shocked to see how into it Rafael got; they were used to him being so composed unless someone pushed his buttons in the courtroom, but here today he was the first to cheer for Noah. He was beaming like a proud father.

When the match was over Noah came running over to his family. Instead of running straight to his mother like he always did, he went straight for Rafael who scooped the boy up into his arms without a second thought. Noah beamed brightly at his honorary uncle. "Did you see how many times I caught the ball, Uncle Rafa?"

Rafael smiled. "I did, hombrecito. You were brilliant out there. I see you've gotten even better while I was away."

The young boy wrapped his arms around Rafael's neck, being more than happy to be held in his arms. "Will you join us to celebrate our win, Uncle Rafa?"

The squad and Olivia froze as they didn't actually know how long Rafael was in town for. They weren't sure if he was planning on jumping straight back on to a plane.

Olivia ran her hand through her son's curls. "Uncle Rafa might be busy, Sweet Boy. He might have to go and visit his mom." Rafael knew that Olivia was giving him an escape as she didn't know what his plans were and he shook his head - looking at Noah. "I wouldn't dream of missing it, Amiguito... What do you say we head to the sugar factory?"

Noah squealed with excitement and looked at his mom. "Can we, Mama? Please?" He smiled his sweetest smile and tried to give her puppy dog eyes.

The squad were trying not to laugh at the young boy trying to persuade his mom. Olivia shook her head, laughing.

Olivia looked at her son. "Of course we can, Sweetie. Why don't you go and say goodbye to your friends and then we can go?"

He sat Noah down so that he could run to his friends and Olivia looked at him. "You know, if you have to leave I can explain it to Noah."

He looked at Olivia. "I know we have a lot of things that we need to talk about, and I promise we will, but there isn't anywhere I would rather be Liv. So, if it's okay with you I'd really like to take you all to the sugar factory."

The brunette smiled the first genuine smile the team had seen on her since the day Rafael left. "Seems you haven't lost your negotiation skills, Rafa."

He gave her his signature smirk as Noah came running back and he took both Olivia and Rafael's hand, which surprised him a little. He was still trying to get used to how affectionate the young boy was towards him. He wasn't good with kids, he didn't have much practice with them, but with Noah the older he got the easier it got with him.

Rollins, Carisi and Fin walked behind Liv and Rafael who were swinging Noah's hands between them.

Rollins looked at Fin and Carisi. "You think they realize how much they look like a family right now?"

Carisi took his phone out and took a quick picture of the three of them in front of him and looked at Fin and Rollins. "I think this is a photo they will want to keep."

Fin normally liked to stay out of Olivia's private life, as she was like a sister to him, but even he couldn't hold back a comment. "Well, I hope that Barba is in town long enough for those two to admit to their feelings for each other now that they can't hide behind the job anymore."

Olivia and Rafael unaware of the conversation going on behind them or that Carisi was taking pictures of them walking and listening to Noah who was talking so fast with excitement.

Holding the boy's hand and walking with him like this with Olivia, Rafael realized just how important both Noah and Liv were to him, how in love he was with Olivia and how much he loved Noah. He was determined at that moment that he would do whatever it took to make sure he didn't lose them.

When they got to the Sugar Factory, he asked for a booth towards the back so that they could have some privacy, as he knew the squad were going to have some questions for him and he would rather do that without people staring.

He knew his picture had been all over the papers during his trial, but he was hoping that after three months people wouldn't recognize him as quickly.

When they got to the booth, He let Olivia slide in first and Noah second, the young boy hadn't let go of his Uncle Rafa's hand. Fin, Carisi and Amanda slid in across the table from them.

The waitress came over with the menus and Noah still hadn't let go of Rafael's hand. He looked to Olivia and was thankful when she picked up on his look, starting to talk to the team so that he could have a slightly private conversation with Noah.

Rafael went to pull his hand out of Noah's grasp gently but the young boy just squeezed tighter and Rafa turned towards him a little. "Mi Amigo, what's going on? You seem afraid to let go of my hand?"

Noah looked down and he whispered, "Sorry."

He ran his free hand over the little boy's back. "You don't have to apologize, Noah. I am so happy to be here with you, but is there a reason you don't want to let go? You can tell me, you know that. I won't get mad or upset."

Olivia had told Rafael that lately, Noah wasn't always so forthcoming with what was going on with his feelings or in his head in case the adults got angry or upset with him. It was a stage that he was going through.

Noah looked up at him. "You promise?"

He nodded and smiled softly. "I promise, Noah. Whatever it is, you can tell me."

Noah took a deep breath and he was staring at his tiny hand in Rafael's larger one and he spoke so quietly that Rafael had to lean in close to actually hear him. "I'm afraid you'll disappear again if I let go."

Upon hearing Noah's words he got a feeling in his stomach and his heart that he had never gotten before. He realized at that moment that Noah loved him as much as he loved Noah, and he had upset the boy by leaving even though they had stayed in touch.

Noah was too young still to understand why '_Uncle Rafa'_ wouldn't visit if he really did miss them. He took the young boy's hand gently from Noah's and the boys face fell, on the brink of tears, clearly worried that Rafael was either going to run or be angry. But to Noah's and everyone else's surprise, Rafael lifted Noah up on to his lap and wrapped his arms around the boy who snuggled in so tight to Rafael that it was like the boy was trying to disappear.

Olivia was listening in to the conversation with Rafael and Noah, and her heart broke for her son. He was a smart kid but it was hard to explain to him why if someone loved him and missed him that they wouldn't come to visit him. She really wasn't sure how Rafael was going to handle this, and she was listening closely in case her boy needed her.

Rafael put his finger under Noah's chin and tilted his head so that he was looking the young boy in the eyes. "Amiguito, I'm not going anywhere, even if you let go of my hand. I'll still be right here, and if I do go away again I promise you it would only be for a few days at the most."

Now Olivia was listening even more attentively, because she didn't want Rafael making a promise to her son that he wasn't going to keep. Noah looked at him. "Mama says that you can't break promises."

He glanced at Olivia and then turned his gaze back to Noah. "I don't plan on breaking any promise to you, Noah. You asked me to be here today and I couldn't wait to come and see you. And I'm sorry you think I'm just going to up and leave you again, but if it's okay with you and its okay with your mom then you're going to be seeing me a lot more again."

Noah's face lit up hearing Rafael's words and he hugged his _Uncle Rafa_ tight. "So, you're really back for good?"

The young boy said this loud enough that everyone at the table heard, and Rafael could feel everyone staring at him. "I might have to leave for a few days to collect some things but once I do that, Noah, yes, I'm back for good."


	4. Chapter 4

Noah seemed to relax after his talk with Rafael, but he stayed seated on his lap until their food arrived and when he sat back down on the seat between his mom and Rafael he kept as close to the former ADA as possible.

He was actually really enjoying how close Noah was staying to him the whole time, and now more than ever since he knew it was because it was what Noah wanted and not out of fear.

Rafael was thankful that the team didn't actually ask him any questions about his time away; he had guessed they were doing it for Liv's sake more than anything. Instead, the team filled Rafael in on what he had missed while he was away; Rollins showed him some recent photos of Jesse at Noah's request and had his suspicions she was expecting confirmed.

The team checked their watches and decided it was time to head into the precinct and no doubt listen to Stone start in on them about this morning.

The squad wanted to pay but he shook his head. "My treat, guys. We had to celebrate Noah's win properly." He smiled, looking at Noah, who was getting his face cleaned by Olivia as he had Ice cream everywhere.

Fin spoke first to Rafael. "It was good to see you again, Barba. Don't be a stranger; we may be needing your help when I finally give in and get rid of Stone."

He shook his head, laughing. "I'm sure you felt the same way about me Fin when I arrived."

Carisi looked at him. "It's good to have you back in the City; we hope this time for longer."

Fin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, please, because we can't listen to Carisi be a lawyer and a detective any longer."

Rollins laughed and pushed the two of them towards the door and patted Rafael on the shoulder and spoke quietly. "Just don't hurt Liv or Noah; you remember how protective we are." Rollins smiled standing up straight as Rafael was a little shocked by her words.

Olivia and Noah waved to the squad as they left.

Rafael then looked at Liv. "Do you have to get back to work as well or do you have the rest of the day off?"

Olivia was about to say she had to go in when she got a message from Fin. 'Take time with Barba or Noah, or both. We have things covered at work. If we need you we will call.'

She replied to Fin saying thanks and then looked at Rafael. "Seems that I have the day off; the team has it covered. They said they'll call me if they need something."

Noah's ears perked up hearing this. "Can we take Uncle Rafa back to the apartment? I've got new Lego that he can help me build!"

Olivia once again went to give Rafael an out if he wanted but before she could say anything he put his hand on her arm. "Liv, I spoke to and saw Mami last night. She knows what brought me back to town, so, today I am free to spend as much time with you both as you want."

Noah cheered and then started playfully pushing Rafael's shoulder. "Let's go, let's go. I have sooooo many new legos to show you."

He couldn't help but laugh at Noah's excitement. You couldn't help but smile when the little boy was around.

Rafael paid for lunch and he walked back to Olivia's apartment with them. He felt a little weird stepping into her apartment again for the first time in three months, he walked in behind them as Noah ran to his room to change out of his sports gear.

He followed Olivia into the living room. "I see you and Noah have finally learned what the toy box is for" he smirked playfully, for some reason feeling a little nervous that he and Olivia were now alone.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Well, we both just about avoided accidents last week over toys, so we decided it was time to start using it... So, can I get you something to drink?"

He sat down on the chair. "Coffee would be great, Liv. Thank you."

Olivia went into the kitchen and he walked over, taking a seat at the barstool, watching her take out the coffee and he was surprised to see she still had his coffee there. "You kept it?"

Olivia was thankful she had make-up on to hide the slight blush that appeared on her cheeks. "Well, you promised that you would come back, and like you told Noah you don't break your promises."

Olivia was letting him know that she had overheard his conversation with her son, and the look on her face said the rest, that he better not let her son down.

He looked at Olivia. "Liv, what I said to Noah -"

Just as he said Noah's name, the young boy appeared beside Rafa almost running into him and he grabbed his hand. "Come on, Uncle Rafa. You have three months of building to make up for, and that's a lot of lego."

The young boy giggled and Rafael looked at Liv who nodded. "Go, Rafa. Play with Noah. We can talk when he's asleep."

He did as Olivia suggested and he joined Noah in the living room, sitting on the floor at the table. While they were building lego, Liv brought him coffee and Noah some juice and she sat on the couch doing some paperwork but she found her self watching Noah and Rafael together.

She couldn't remember the last time that she had seen Rafael so relaxed, and it was always so good to hear her son laughing. But the ball game this morning, the sugar factory and building Lego with his surrogate uncle had taken it out of Noah and he had fallen asleep leaning against Rafael.

Olivia stood up. "I'll take him and lay him in his bed for a nap."

He looked at the brunette. "Do you mind if I put him down?"

Olivia smiled, nodding. "Sure, Rafa. Just don't drop my son," she teased playfully as he lifted Noah and began to carry him to his bedroom, tucking the boy into the bed with Eddie. He also couldn't resist the urge to lean down and kiss the top of Noah's head.

When he came back into the living room, Olivia was sitting on the couch with two fresh cups of coffee. She looked up, seeing Rafael. "So, you didn't drop him then since I didn't hear any loud noises."

He raised his eyebrow. "Are you ever going to forget the way that I held Noah the first time I held him?"

Olivia shook her head, laughing, and Rafael all of a sudden felt nervous again as he ran his hand along his neck. "Listen, Liv. I can leave and come back if you have things to do."

The brunette put down the paperwork she had been doing and she looked at him. "I think we need to talk, Rafa. Don't you?"

He nodded and he sat down opposite her and he ran his hand along his thighs trying to calm down his nerves. He was confident and cocky in the courtroom but when it came to his feelings he was a nervous teenage boy all over again. "What you heard me say to Noah in the sugar factory, I meant it. I'm not expecting things to go back to the way they used to be. I know that I hurt you and Noah when I left, but I am coming back to the city, and I really want to be a part of your life and Noah's in any way that you'll let me."

Olivia looked at Rafael and she was listening to him. Now she was also feeling nervous. This was her best friend; things hadn't been the same without him by her side. It hurt going to work and him not being there, having to go into the office he used to work in that Stone had taken over. They may have talked but she really did miss him. "So, all it took for you to come back was for my son to ask you?" The question wasn't one of anger, she was just curious.

He faced her as he leaned his side against the back of the couch. "I was surprised to see the letter from Noah, and I was missing both you and him a lot, but I wasn't in any shape for Noah to actually see me and be around me. I was trying to get back to a person that I knew you would be okay with being around Noah. But when I read him asking me to come back I news that I wasn't going to completely get over everything until I returned to the city and now, here was Noah giving me the perfect invitation"

Olivi looked at Rafael and she lay her hand gently on his arm. "Rafa, I would never have stopped you from seeing Noah. You may think that because of what happened or the fact that you no longer had a job changed you, but it didn't. You were still Uncle Rafa to him, and you are more than just the job to us. There is more to Rafael Barba than the cocky ADA!" she teased lightly and then she looked down for a minute taking a deep breath "Is what you told Noah true, that you're coming back? Because I can find a way to deal with you walking out on me again Rafael, but I can't put my son through that again."

He took Olivia's hand, squeezing it gently. "I promise you that I am not just going to walk out on Noah again, I may not have been great with kids, I haven't been around any in the way that I have Noah, but I love that little boy, Liv. I hate that me leaving hurt him in any way and I want to make that up to him in any way that I can" Olivia nodded as she listened and she smiled softly "I think he's already forgiving you for showing up today, playing catch with him, taking him to the Sugar Factory and playing lego. You've given him his dream day today, Rafa."

He was quiet for a minute before he looked at Liv. "I am sorry that I left, that I walked away on you. That was the last thing that I wanted to do after what happened to you with Stabler. But I had to leave, Liv. I had to figure out who I was without the job that I had worked so hard to get. All I had pictured at college was climbing the ranks in the D.A's Office and there I was turning my back on it, on the future I and Abuelita had dreamed of for me... But, I meant every single word that I said to you outside the courthouse that day." He finally made eye contact with the brunette. "But..." he sighed running his hands over his face.

Olivia's heart sank she was convinced now he was gonna say that he wanted to just be friends after her finally realizing that she had been in love with her best friend for longer than she wanted to admit. "But what, Barba?"

Hearing her use his second name pulled Rafael back from his own world. He ran his thumb over Olivia's hand. "But, I want to be honest with you. I have to be honest with you, Liv... That day outside the courthouse I wanted to say something more to you but I was a coward and I was selfish, and if we are to spend time together again then I have to be honest with you." He took a deep breath. "I love you Olivia, and you don't have to say it back because you don't want me to feel bad or to run away. But I just needed you to know because I can't be myself with you and hide how I'm feeling and.." Rafael was cut off speaking when he felt Olivia's lips brush against his. He was shocked, and Olivia was about to pull back, thinking he didn't want it, when she felt his hand slide into her hair his palm resting against her neck as he kissed her the way that he wanted to for so long. And he only broke the kiss when they had to for air. He leaned his forehead against Olivia's, not wanting to break the contact just yet. She couldn't think straight right now. She knew Rafa would be an amazing kisser, but his lips on hers were like nothing she had ever felt before.

She ran her hand along his arm to the nape of his neck, running her fingertips along the hair there, and he let out a low moan at the contact. "Liv... if this is to just make me stay then you don't have to."

She shut him up again by kissing him. "I thought you Harvard lawyers were supposed to be smart."

Rafael pulled his head back so that he could see her face, and he was met with her smiling the happiest smile he had seen since the day she adopted Noah. Olivia chuckled at his confusion. "Rafa, I'm in love with you too. I have been for a very long time."

Rafael smiled hearing Olivia's words. She was finally saying the three words that he had dreamed about her saying for over the last two years. He leaned his arm on the back of the couch and ran his fingers slowly through her hair. "I should have told you that day outside the courthouse that I loved you, but I knew that if I did that I wouldn't be able to leave you. Even though I knew I was always going to come back here." He smiled as he leaned in pressing his lips gently against Liv's first before she moved closer to him and deepened the kiss when they broke the kiss she lay her head on Rafael's shoulder wrapping her arm around his waist. "So, you really back for good?"

He smiled, kissing Olivia on the too of the head. "I was going to have to go back and pick up some things that I didn't have time to pack and bring with me, but I'll just get a company to take of that for me now. After my talk with Noah, and now us, I really don't want to have to leave again that soon even if it was only for a few days."

Olivia kissed his neck, snuggling in tight to him, just enjoying having him here, feeling his arms around her and knowing that she could kiss him now when she wanted. "As long as you're sure, Rafa. I mean if you want to go pick the things up yourself I can help you explain that to Noah."

He shook his head. "I'm sure, Liv. I'm not going anywhere, and the next time I do I'm thinking about taking a certain Lieutenant and her son with me."

He tensed a little when he realized that he was jumping ahead of himself, but Olivia pulled her head back kissing him and she smiled caressing his cheek. "Well, I think you would find that a certain lieutenant and her son would love nothing more."

He couldn't help the large smile that appeared on his face. When he got on that flight from Miami last night, he really had no idea how things were going to be but he never imagined they would be this good. Just as he went to kiss Olivia again her phone rang. She groaned and lifted her phone to her ear. "Sorry, I have to answer this. It's Fin."

He nodded as he totally understood that Fin wouldn't be calling unless she was really needed. He expected Olivia to move away from him when she was on the phone for a work call but instead, she cuddled into his side wrapping her arm around his waist again as she spoke to Fin. When she hung up she held him a little tighter and he kissed her head.

"Liv, I know you have to go to work. Go, honestly. You know that I understand that you have to be there," he said. "Don't worry you can text or ring me if you want to make sure I haven't fled from New York." The last part was said teasingly and Olivia finally pulled back a little.

"I need to ring Lucy to come and sit with Noah."

He shook his head. "If you're okay with it, Liv, then I can stay here with Noah."

Olivia bit her bottom lip nervously. "Are you sure, Rafa? You know just because we're going to make a go of things doesn't mean I'm going to force you into any role with Noah."

He smiled and ran his thumb along her jawline. "Liv, I'm all in. I want the whole package and I know that includes Noah. I wouldn't have it any other way. Now go before I don't want to let you go." he smirked as he kissed Liv passionately and she finally stood up and went to the safe lifting her badge and gun.

Rafael got up walking her to the apartment door and she smiled. "I'll text or call to keep you updated on how we're getting on. If you need anything just ring and if you have things you need to do, Lucy's number is on the fridge... I'll see you both later."

Olivia smiled and kissed Rafael and he smiled. "Liv, we will be fine. Don't worry. I'll only let him have a small amount of scotch," he teased playfully and laughed when she lightly slapped his chest and he grabbed her hand gently squeezing it. "Be safe, and don't worry. Your boys will be fine right here." Olivia shook her head smiling as she finally walked away from the apartment heading to the precinct and she couldn't stop the smile on her face as she thought about Rafael kissing her and the way he said her boys like it was so natural and had been their way of life for much longer than thirty minutes.


	5. Chapter 5

For the first time in three months, Olivia didn't hate walking into the precinct as much as she had done, because she knew that her best friend was sitting in her apartment with her son, waiting for her to come home from work. The idea of going home to Rafael and Noah was enough to make Olivia smile as she headed towards her office.

Fin raised his eyebrow seeing the smile on Olivia's face. "So, I'm guessing from the smile on your face that you didn't kill Barba, or if you did, you were able to hide his body without our help."

She shook her head trying not to laugh. "I haven't killed him. We talked things through, but he's still alive." She knew there was no reason for her to hide that they were now more than friends but right now she wanted to keep it to herself so that they could enjoy it before they told everyone.

Olivia got straight to work when Carisi and Rollins came into the bullpen, they filled her and Fin on what they had got talking to those that were willing to talk to them. Liv knew this was going to be a tough case. A rape on a campus always caused extra issues, as it involved so many people trying to protect different aspects. The Uni wanting to say that something like that would never happen, students staging a protest saying it hasn't been the first time. It was a mess of a case from the beginning, she sighed as she settled into her office for the long haul.

Back at Olivia's apartment Rafael had made himself comfortable, turning on the tv on to whatever channel Olivia last had on as he really wasn't paying that much attention to the channel. His mind was focused on the way that Noah had been with him today, he had to admit that he loved getting to spend so much time with Noah and how affectionate the little boy had been to him today. The main reason for his large grin right now was the beautiful Lieutenant who was his best friend had told him that she was in love with him. He had given up hope that he would ever be the one to hear those words come from her lips, but here he was looking after her son while she was at work.

He didn't realize an hour had passed until he heard a sleepy Noah walking towards him. "Uncle Rafa, you're still here?"

Rafael smiled and let Noah climb up into his lap for some cuddles as he wasn't completely awake yet from his nap. "I'm right here like I said would, Hombrecito, but mommy had to go to work so it's just you and me that okay with you?"

Noah nodded and settled in quite happily hiding his face in Rafael's neck. He took out his phone and took a picture of him and Noah sitting like that and sent it to Olivia with a message. _'I think I may be in trouble, Lieutenant. It seems mi amigo already has me wrapped around his little finger. Your sweet boy sends you love and we both send kisses.'_

Olivia heard her phone beeping while she was getting the latest update from her squad and she opened the message. When she saw Rafael's number as she wanted to make sure he didn't need something for Noah. Instead what she found was something that made her stomach do flips and her heart beat so fast that she thought it was going to explode out of her chest. She tried hard to hide the smile on her face but she couldn't. she had to smile when she saw them snuggled up together like that and she sent a quick reply. _'He's had you from day one Rafa, and lots of kisses to you both.'_

He told Noah that his mother sent him kisses and that she was missing him. When Noah had completely woken up after his nap, he and Rafael got back to playing Lego, and, since it was Sunday, Rafael helped Noah do the homework that he had for school the next day. The day felt so natural just spending it with Noah doing domestic things like it was something he had been doing for years. He decided to get Noah to help him cook dinner and he forgot how much he missed getting the chance to cook proper food until right here in this moment getting to teach Noah how to make one of his favourite dishes that his abuelita used to always make him.

He had read a text from Olivia saying that she wasn't going to make it home for dinner, the Squad were exhausted as they couldn't get any good lead and they were under stress as the rape was in the media already as it was on campus.

When they had finished cooking, he looked at Noah. "Hey, Noah. Do you think that we should surprise mama at work with some dinner for her, Aunty Amanda, Uncle Sonny and Uncle Fin?"

The young boy spun around to face him. "Yes! It will make them so happy right, Uncle Rafa? So we would be helping them?"

He chuckled softly at Noah's enthusiasm. "Okay, mi Amigo, go and put your shoes on and I will pack the food up so that we can take it to them."

Noah didn't have to be told twice, he took off straight away heading to get his shoes and he came back to Rafa when he was ready.

Rafael kept Noah close to him and the food safely in his lap as they made their way to the precinct. He held Noah's hand in his as they stepped off the elevator walking towards Olivia's office. He made sure there weren't any pictures on any of the boards that would upset Noah and when he was happy enough he let Noah run on ahead of him into Olivia's office as he could see she was sitting on her own.

Olivia had been sitting reading over some paperwork when she heard Noah shout, "Mama!" She was out of her seat right away to meet her son and hug him tight and she kissed the top of his head. "What are you doing here, Sweet Boy?"

Noah smiled up proudly at his mom. "Me and Uncle Rafa made dinner for everyone."

Rafael smiled, stepping into the brunette's office, closing the door behind him, and he sat the food down to the side and he smiled looking at Olivia. "We didn't want you guys to go hungry, and I know how much you love to see Noah before he goes to bed, so now you get to do both."

Olivia looked at Rafael and she reached over taking his hand squeezing it gently "Thank you, Rafa. This means so much. Carisi is going to love you both; he's been looking food for the last hour," she chuckled softly.

He rolled his eyes. "Is there ever a time when Carisi isn't thinking of his stomach?"

"Like you're one to talk, Rafa."

This made even Noah giggle because even he knew that if he wanted snacks Uncle Sonny or Rafael were the ones to go to.

Rafael gave Olivia a soft smile. "Well, we made enough for you all, so that you would have proper food and not be eating out of the vending machine."

Olivia smiled at Rafael. "They're in the break room right now. We can bring it into them in a few minutes, but first, Mama needs some more cuddles from her Sweet boy." Noah laughed as his mom playfully squeezed him in her arms.

Rafael was laughing, watching the interaction between two of the people he loved the most in the world when Olivia's office door was swung open without being knocked on and Stone stormed in angrily. "Lieutenant, what the hell? You really think I can do anything about this rape with what you have brought me?"


	6. Chapter 6

Rafael and Olivia both moved at the same time to cover Noah's ears and the former ADA was the first to speak. "Counsellor, there's a child present. I'm sure that whatever you have to say to Lieutenant Benson can wait until her son is no longer in the room."

Seeing Rafael for some reason was actually making Stone even angrier. "What are you even doing here anyway, Barba? Did you forget you don't work here anymore?"

He eyed Stone. "Like I could forget with you reminding me every time you see me. And I don't need permission to come and see Liv, considering this is her office and not yours."

Stone was talking loudly with the anger. "Well, you can leave now, Barba, and take Noah with you so that we can talk about the terrible case that they have brought to me."

He hunkered down in front of Noah who was clinging to his mom's leg tighter the louder Stone got. "Amiguito, will you go to Aunt Amanda for me for a minute? Why don't you tell her to get plates for dinner?"

Olivia's squad had come out of the break room upon hearing Stone. Rollins, who had heard Rafael's voice, walked straight passed Stone into Olivia's office, picked up the food and turned to Noah. She gave the small boy a reassuring smile as she spoke. "Let's go, Kiddo. This smells so good." Noah looked at his mom for her approval and then he took Rollins' hand, walking with her to the break room, telling her how he and Uncle Rafa had made them dinner.

Rafael stood up straight again and right in front of Stone. It looked like he was actually trying to protect Olivia, as his body was sheltering hers from Stone. "I know you're new here, Stone, but Liv doesn't talk about work in front of her son. She would rather not traumatize him, and I'm not going anywhere, Counsellor. If you can't make a case on what they have brought you then that's on you, because they never bring a case that they don't believe in."

Stone stood up straight to be taller than Rafael. "They have nothing here; the victim had slept with the suspect earlier in the day."

Olivia was now getting pissed off as she looked at Stone. "What does that matter? She said no last night and no means no. We had less than this before for Barba yet he still took cases."

Stone raised his eyebrow. "Well, luckily for you, I'm not Barba or else I wouldn't be standing here right now, and I'm not going to ask for him to leave again."

He looked at Stone. "Then don't waste your time. How about you turn around and walk out before I show you that I am still the better ADA out of the two of us."

Stone laughed coldly. "Yeah right, Barba, and that's why I'm Liv's ADA and you're not."

Barba raised his eyebrow at hearing Stone. "You're SVU's ADA not Liv's. You seem to be getting confused there, Counsellor."

Olivia stepped forward, stopping beside Rafael, and looked at Stone. "And I've asked you not to call me _Liv_, Stone."

The blond man raised his voice again. "When are you going to accept that Barba is gone? I'm your ADA now, so whatever was there is gone. It's me or nothing."

He looked at Stone, a sneer on his face. "I think now is a really good time for you to turn around and leave. Don't make me have to ask Carisi and Fin to escort you out of the building."

Stone stepped closer to him. "That won't be happening since they work for me."

Fin stepped forward. "I think you'll find we work with you, and now is a really good time for you to leave. Like you said, we have nothing for you, and we are about to enjoy dinner which we are entitled to, so we will call you when we have something, Counsellor."

Fin stepped into the office and lead Stone towards the elevator and Rafael watched him walk away before looking back at Olivia. "I can see now that you weren't lying about how bad he was. I apologize all the times I told you to just be patient with him. Do you want me to listen to you guys' ideas on this case? I can help you with telling you what's enough to get you warrants, or whatever it is Stone hasn't gotten you yet."

Olivia was surprised by his offer. The team had asked her to talk to Rafael about his help on the case but she felt that would have just opened old wounds for him and dragged him down but he was offering it and the offer seemed genuine. "Actually, Rafa, you would be a great help if you're sure you don't mind. We can bounce our ideas off you so we know when the judge would sign off on warrants for us."

He smiled. "Then let's go to the squad and Noah and we can eat and then you, Fin and Carisi can walk me through the case and Amanda can mind Noah." He smiled as he took Olivia's hand in his, knowing that no one would see him with the way that they were standing. "Don't worry, Liv. Trying to help you won't make me run or hide. If it gets too much for me, I'll tell you."

She smiled squeezing his hand gently before they had to let go and head towards the break room.

He and Olivia walked into the break room and Noah smiled seeing them. "Mama, you gotta come and try this. It's sooo good," he giggled happily, having forgotten about being afraid when Stone was raising his voice.

Olivia smiled genuinely upon seeing her son and then chuckled softly. "So good that you have the sauce all over your face, Sweet Boy."

Rollins looked at Olivia. "We started without ya'll, because, according to Noah, he was going to die of hunger."

She pulled a funny face at Noah who pulled one back. "Hey, so was Uncle Sonny!"

Olivia crinkles her nose, amused. "Now that does not surprise me."

Carisi looked up at Rafael. "This is really good. Did you and Noah really make this?"

He rolled his eyes. "I do know how to cook, Carisi. I'm a grown man that's lived on his own since college. Do you think I just always eat take out?"

Rollins grinned. "We are just used to you talking about going out to dinner and, well, we know Liv is the Take-out Queen."

Olivia chuckled softly. "I have gotten much better since Noah came into my life and brought Lucy along with him."

Rafael shook his head laughing and he went over to the counter, dishing out food for Olivia first, and himself, and brought them back to the table as they sat either side of Noah.

They had just started to eat when Fin walked in. "Damn, that guy really is a pain in the... You know what." Fin stopped himself, remembering Noah was in the room. "Barba, you sure you don't want to go over there and take your job back from McCoy?"

He was a little surprised to hear Fin's comment as he wasn't sure how the detective really felt about him, but it did make him feel like he had obviously done something right if the detective wanted him to come back and be their ADA.

He looked at Fin and spoke when his mouth was empty. "As much as you seem to want that right now, I'm sure that this case is just stressing everyone out, so I have offered to stay after we eat and try to help you all out in any way I can."

Carisi looked at Rafael. "There are a number of judges out there that would sign this warrant with what we have already, but Stone just doesn't want us to risk his reputation. He wants to keep the judges on his good side so that they can help him climb the ladder."

He was surprised to hear that coming from Carisi as he really thought he liked everyone.

"Well, when you take me through the case, and I do think that you have enough for a warrant, then there is something that I might be able to do for you. I just can't promise anything." Rafael didn't want to tell them he could get them the warrants because he really wasn't sure how those on the right side of the law would react at the mention of his name and he didn't want to make this case worse for them instead of better.

They agreed to not talk about the case while they ate. Instead, Noah told them about building lego and doing his homework as he was now reading at the next level which the young boy was so happy about. Rafael and the squad were giving Noah their full attention over dinner, forgetting about everything except the innocence of the young boy, who kept begging Amanda for a playdate really soon with Jesse.

When they finished up eating, Rollins looked at Noah. "Why don't you and I go into your mom's office and we can pull up your favourite show on the iPad for a few episodes?"

Noah looked at his mom. "Can I pretty please, Mama?"

Olivia kissed her son's head, smiling. "Of course you can, Sweet Boy. Listen to what Aunt Amanda tells you."

Noah nodded, and hopped down off the chair, taking Rollins' hand. "And I can get you to take Jesse over to see me really soon" he giggled while walking with Rollins.

He leaned back in the chair, sipping his coffee. "Okay, show me what you guys have, and Carisi, keep it to the short version. Noah has to have a bath before bedtime." Rafael didn't mean to sound so domesticated, but he really couldn't help it, as the boy kept asking him if he could do bath and storytime tonight and he didn't want to change his routine.

Fin went and grabbed the case file and handed it to Rafael who went through the case notes while listening to them closely and he raised his head from the file looking at Fin and Caris. "So, people saw her running from his room at two am this morning in tears?"

Fin nodded. "And we're not talking drunk students. We're talking about students that were coming home from a study session at the library, so we are trusting their word."

Olivia wasn't saying much as she was really enjoying watching Barba being back in his D.A mode. He was so damn good at it, and he slotted back into the role so easy. Would it really be such a bad thing for him to come back to the DA's office?

She was brought back to the real world when she heard Rafael clear his throat. "Okay, so you have enough here for a warrant for his phone and computer. I may be able to call in a few favours to help you with that, but you realize that if I do that, Stone isn't really going to be happy with you all."

Olivia looked at Rafael. "Right now, Rafa, we really don't care what Stone thinks or does to us when he does find out. What we really need is that warrant to try and get this girl some justice. If you think you can help us with that then we would really appreciate it."

He nodded and he took out his phone. "Just give me a few minutes."

He left the break room and true to his word he came back in a few minutes later and he looked at Fin and Carisi. "Okay, Judge Barth is waiting for you both in Chambers. She's going to sign a warrant for you. Go now and I'll have it emailed to her office and she will have it ready for you when you arrive."

Fin patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for this, Barba."

He gave a curt nod.

Fin and Carisi left the precinct as quick as they could to go and get the warrant from Judge Barth.

He looked at Olivia. "Can I use your laptop to send the email through? I can access my old files from there."

Olivia nodded and she put her hand on Rafael's arm. "Rafa, thank you for doing this. I mean it. We really appreciate it. I really appreciate you helping us out like this."

He smiled. "Liv, you know that Stone is going to lose it when he finds out?"

She nodded. "Let me worry about that. You just worry about getting the warrant to Judge Barth."

She smiled at him and lead him into her office. He sat down at Olivia's desk and he got to work on her laptop sending in the warrant.

"Okay, Judge Barth has it, so Fin and Carisi should be at the boy's dorm in no time." He stood up and pushed the chair back. "This has been fun, but mi amigo and I have plans, don't we?"

Noah jumped up and ran over, taking Rafa's hand as he looked at his mom. "Uncle Rafa said he would read me my bedtime story tonight. Are you coming home, Mama?"

Rollins stood up and looked at them. "Liv, there isn't anything more we can do until Fin and Carisi carry out their search in the apartment. I'll be here going over what we have and waiting for any updates, and the minute there is anything we will let you know."

Olivia's squad still weren't sure if the former ADA was staying around for a long period of time so they wanted to give Liv as much time with him as possible. She smiled, looking at Noah. "I guess I'm coming home with you and Uncle Rafa then, Sweet Boy."

Noah cheered and Rafael couldn't hide the smile on his face that he was going back to her apartment with her and Noah. It felt so right and natural.


	7. Chapter 7

Olivia and Rafael headed home with Noah and when they got inside they took him straight to the bath. After the bath Noah wanted both his mom and Uncle Rafa to read him his bedtime story. Neither adult could deny Noah what he wanted and both found that they had no desire to deny this wish. Olivia helped Noah get comfortable in bed with Eddie while Rafael lifted _'The Gruffalo'_ at Noah's request. Rafael sat down on the bed beside Noah and Olivia sat the other side of the young boy and he snuggled in tight to both adults. He was so tired from his big day and so cozy snuggled up that he had fallen asleep by the third page.

He smiled, getting off the bed carefully, as to not wake Noah and tucked the blanket around him. "Sweet dreams, Amigo," he whispered to Noah, kissing his head. He then lifted his head to look at Olivia.

"I'll meet you out in the living room," she said with a smile. "I'll be right behind you."

Olivia didn't think that she could love this man any more than she already did, but then he had to go and cook for her, her son and the squad had bathed Noah and read him his story. When she thought she couldn't handle anymore he had to tuck him in and whisper goodnight to him. Olivia knew at that moment that she had never loved anymore the way that she loved Rafael.

She kissed Noah goodnight and made her way to her living room, noticing that Rafael was seated on the couch with a glass of wine and a glass of scotch on the coffee table in front of him. She walked over to the couch. "I see you remembered your way around my apartment."

Rafael smirked playfully. "You should know by now that when it comes to you, Liv, I remember everything."

That had actually made Olivia blush and she leaned over capturing Rafael's lips in a kiss, running her tongue along his bottom lip which he gave access to straight away. Their kissing was just like their friendship, it was gentle but so passionate. Olivia finally broke the kiss when she had to for air but she didn't move away she instead leaned her forehead against his lightly.

Both were now breathing heavier after that kiss. Rafael ran his hand through her hair slowly. "Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?"

She smiled, placing small kisses to his lips. Neither of them was usually the affectionate one in their past relationships, but now that they were together, it was totally different, it felt natural to be this affectionate with each other. "That was a thank you for being you, Rafa. For taking care of my son, feeding me and the squad, helping us with the case and for standing up to Stone the way that you did."

Rafael pulled his head back ever so slightly so that he could look at Olivia as he rested his hand on her neck caressing her jawline with his thumb. "Cariño, you never have to thank me for taking care of you or Noah. As for helping on the case, I actually enjoyed it. Who knows, maybe I'll ask Rita for a job and go head to head with Stone in a courtroom."

He raised his eyebrow playfully as Liv shook her head laughing.

"If you had of said that five years ago I would have maybe believed you," she said, "but the Rafael Barba I know cares too much about the victims to jump on Rita's side."

Rafael smiled. "Well, I had this lieutenant who changed the way that I looked at cases. You need to do the same with Stone if he's going to be sticking around - just don't make him fall in love with you too." He smirked and Liv slapped his chest lightly.

"I didn't make you do anything you didn't want to."

Rafael looked at Olivia with his signature smirk. "I think you'll find that there were certain cases I only took because you wanted me to, and I wanted to make you happy, but you didn't make me fall in love with you. My heart and my head done that on their own."

Olivia snuggled into Rafael's chest wrapping her arms around his waist. He was happy to just hold the brunette, running his fingers through her hair slowly. But he hadn't changed that much; he couldn't stay quiet for too long and he couldn't keep anything from Olivia. "Liv, does Stone have feelings for you?"

Olivia pulled her head back to look at him when she heard him ask about Stone. "Why the hell do you and Fin seem to think that there's something going on between me and Stone?!"

Rafael took Olivia's hand gently in his. "Cariño, that's not what I was suggesting. I asked if he had feelings for you, not if something was going on between you both because I know there isn't."

She sighed running her thumb along Rafael's hand. "Sorry for snapping. It's just I have had Fin asking me the same question. Why do you both think that?"

Rafael reached out caressing her cheek gently. "In your office, he said to me he was your ADA not SVU's and in our six years of working together, and me being in love with you for most of those years, I never once described myself as Liv's ADA."

Olivia was listening to what Rafael was saying as she knew he wasn't in any way doubting her or anything he just wanted to know what he was walking in to with Stone. "Rafa, that does not mean that he has feelings for me, it was just a slip of the tongue."

Rafael chuckled softly. "I love how you always look for the good in people, Liv, but it's not just that. Stone seemed so pissed off when I turned up this morning at Noah's game. Was he supposed to be the one there with Noah?"

Olivia shook her head. "God no, Rafa, honey. I had no idea he was going to be turning up at that game. He has never spent time with Noah; he's met him once. Ask the squad. We were all shocked to see him there."

This just made Rafael more convinced that Stone was trying to hide feelings for her. "Liv, he wouldn't just turn up for no reason. He turned up this morning for you and Noah, the same way that I did... And he is too damn angry at me for it to just be about the fact that I'm back in New York."

Olivia sighed rubbing her face. "I really had no idea. How the hell did I not notice? I am a detective, after all."

Rafael ran his fingers through her hair, slowly pressing his lips to her temple. "You always try to see the good in people, and I am pretty sure that you really haven't been paying that much attention to Stone. It makes sense that Fin noticed though. He's always looking out for you. I noticed that on my second day of working with you guys."

Olivia turned her body to face Rafael's more and to snuggle in close to him as she wanted the comfort of him being close. "Rafa... you... I promise you that I haven't done anything to make Stone think that I was in any way interested in him."

Rafael smiled kissing Olivia's head as he wrapped his arms around her. "I know, Cariño, I know... And even if you had, Liv, we weren't together when I was away - even if you were always on my mind. However, I won't be letting Stone or anyone else get in the way of us."

She smiled hearing Rafael so determined to protect their new relationship. She already felt secure in their relationship, something that usually took her months to feel.

They sat quietly for a few minutes just happy to hold each other, they did, after all, have three months of catching up to do. Finally, Rafael realized the time and he sighed. "I should really be leaving, you need to get some sleep for work tomorrow."

Olivia's hold on Rafael got much tighter. "Don't go. Stay..." Rafael was surprised by her words and he held her a little tighter, running his hand along her back slowly, his heart aching for her as a part of her thought that he was going to leave again. "I promise you I'm not leaving New York, Liv. Nothing could drag me away from this city now that I have you and Noah."

Olivia shifted, her head on Rafael's shoulder, so that she could look up at his face and she kissed under his chin. "I still want you to stay here tonight. Rafa. I want to be able to wake up and see you in the morning and know this wasn't all just a dream and I also know that Noah would love to see you first thing in the morning."

Rafael chuckled softly. "Using your son to blackmail me, Lieutenant?"

She laughed softly as she ran her hand along his stomach.

"That depends. Is it working?" she asked hopefully as Rafael leaned down capturing her lips in a slow sensual kiss.

"Cariño, if you're sure you want me to stay, then I will stay right here."

Olivia kissed Rafael and she stood up and turned to face him reaching her hand out to him. "Let's go to bed, Rafa."

Rafael looked from Olivia'z hand up to her face, he couldn't believe this was actually happening. He had dreamt about this happening so many times before that he was now waiting for his alarm to go off and wake him before he got to enjoy the dream any further. But, he felt Olivia's hand slide into his and pulling him gently to his feet. "C'mon, let's go. Like you said, I do need some sleep before tomorrow."

Rafael squeezed the brunette's hand gently unable to find the words right now but before Liv could say or do anything else, Rafael had her gently pinned against her breakfast bar as he kissed her slowly, almost hungrily as he ran his tongue along her lower lip asking for access which she gave him straight away. He pressed his body against hers and the sound that escaped from Olivia's throat was something that Rafael wanted to hear as often as possible. Before they could get carried away there was a loud knock at Liv's front door.

They broke the kiss reluctantly both breathing heavier from their want and need for each other and Olivia ran her fingers through Rafael's hair, smiling fully. "Maybe if we just ignore it they'll leave."

Much to their annoyance the knock appeared again and this time much louder and Olivia almost ran to the door to stop whoever was deciding to interrupt her this late at home from waking Noah.

Olivia swung the door open, angry with whoever was on the other side, because she knew her team would never call her apartment at that hour without ringing first so that she knew to listen for them. That way, they didn't wake up Noah. Olivia was even more pissed off when she saw who it was that was interrupting their plans.

"Stone?" she said, rather testily. "What the hell do you want at this time of night? Are you trying to wake my son up?"

Stone looked so angry at the detective and he was talking loud enough for it to echo around the apartment. "Seriously, Lieutenant, I think you know exactly why I am here. Surely you knew that I was going to find out that you went behind my back for a warrant... Have you any idea how bad this makes me look?"

Olivia was getting even more pissed off when Stone wouldn't stop talking so loud. "Stone, if you don't lower your voice, I'm closing this door on you, because my son is trying to sleep."

Olivia staying as calm as she was, was just making Stone even angrier if that were possible and he stood tall. "I don't care if I wake your whole damn apartment building"

Olivia was about to respond when she heard a tiny scared voice "Mama... why the shouting?" Liv was about to turn to get Noah when Rafael appeared and he scooped Noah up into his arms. "Hey, Amigo. Let's get you back to bed."

Noah hid his face in Rafael's neck as a few tears ran down his cheek as the shouting had woke him. "I had a bad dream, Uncle Rafa. I don't want to go back to bed."

The young boy sniffled and it broke Olivia's heart to hear her son. She was listening in case Rafael needed help as she knew he wasn't used to dealing with this.

Rafael kissed the young boy's head. "Well, how about we give mommy another good night kiss and I will read you a story and stay with you until you fall asleep again. Does that sound like a good plan, Amigo?"

Noah nodded in Rafael's neck and he clutched Eddie the elephant tighter. Rafael carried him over to Olivia; she smiled softly, kissing her boy's head. "Sweet dreams, my sweet boy. You have some nice cuddle time with Uncle Rafa."

Rafael pulled a face at Olivia for calling it cuddle time as everyone except her, Noah, and his Mami thought he was this tough as nails ADA that didn't have emotions. Half of the department called him el tiburón. He didn't say anything, though, and Noah smiled, sniffling. "Night night, Mama."

Noah pulled his head back to look at Stone who had still remained standing at the door. "I don't like you waking me up."

Rafael had to hide his face in Noah's curls as he tried not to laugh. He looked at Liv. "If you need me just shout, but don't be letting him take up your time. You're not on duty right now, Liv." Rafael wanted to kiss Liv on the cheek but right now he knew he couldn't with Stone standing right there. He looked at Liv knowing she could read what he was thinking by looking in his eyes. He snuggled Noah closer, rubbing the young boys back, as they made their way into Noah's room. He tucked Noah back into bed and then he laid down on the bed, right beside Noah, reading to him.

Olivia watched Rafael and Noah and she smiled softly watching Rafael seem so natural with Noah, she knew that instinct and adrenaline had kicked in for Rafael when he had seen Noah upset. Olivia was pulled out of her head when she heard Stone.

"Well, isn't this all very cozy," he said. "Did you change your nanny to Barba full time?" Stone smirked. "So, you really want a discredited lawyer, who killed a baby, around your son? That's a great example to show your son, Liv."

That was the final straw for her. Seeing red, she stood tall so she was toe to toe with Stone. "Rafael is not a discredited lawyer. If that were the case then how come a judge signed off on a warrant that Rafael signed himself? Hmm? You would love to think he's not welcome in New York, but Judge Barth has proven that everyone has moved on from what happened. And he didn't kill Drew. He saved that boy and his parents from any more suffering, and if you weren't such an emotionless cold shell of a human being, you would understand what made him do the strongest and most courageous thing me and my squad have ever seen."

Olivia was not backing down from this. "First, you come to my home and waken my son, and then you insult my house guest. I told you to never come near my apartment again, Stone, and I meant it. Let me make this clear to you. We will always choose Rafael over you. He was and still is a better DA than you could ever be. Now, I don't care what crap you came here to say, but we're done. Goodnight, Counsellor."

Before Stone could even react, Olivia closed the door and leaned her back against the door. She closed her eyes, trying to calm down, as her hands were shaking from the anger. She was taking slow deep breaths when she felt hands run down her arms.

"Cariño, let's go to bed." He kissed her forehead and she didn't protest as she followed him and he felt her stop at Noah's room. "He's sound asleep, but go on and check on him. I know it will make you feel better." Olivia smiled, kissing his cheek. She was thankful that he wasn't judging her for wanting to check so much on Noah. After what happened with Sheila, she checked on Noah more often than before.

She went into Noah's room and he was sound asleep, snoring a little with Eddie tucked in tight to his side. Olivia kissed his forehead and she left closing his door over a little but not completely and she came out to Rafael in the hall. "You could have gone on into my room, Rafa. You didn't have to wait."

Rafael took Olivia's hands once more. "I'd rather we were together going into your room for the first time, Cariño."

She smiled at how caring and thoughtful Rafael was towards her. She smiled, kissing him softly. "I love you, Rafa."

He smiled against her lips and he whispered to her ear. "I love you too, Olivia Benson. Con todo mi corazón." (With all my heart.)

"Me encanta cuando hablas español," she replied. (I love it when you speak Spanish.)

"Good to know," he said with a grin.

She smiled as they entered her room, entangled up in each other.


	8. Chapter 8

Olivia and Rafael were both a little nervous as they entered her bedroom. Olivia went to her dresser to get her t-shirt and shorts and she held them in her hand as she looked at Rafael. "I'm just going to go in the bathroom to change. Make yourself comfortable, Rafa, and that _does_ mean you don't have to sleep in your jeans." She chuckled softly as she squeezed Rafael's hand before she left the bedroom - heading into the bathroom to get changed.

When she left the room, Rafael took a slow deep breath to calm his nerves. After all, this was still Olivia, his best friend. He stripped down to his boxers and he climbed into her bed. Once he got comfortable, he took out his phone in order to check on and deal with a few emails.

Olivia was back within a couple of minutes dressed in her NYPD t-shirt and shorts as she found them extremely comfortable to sleep in, she stopped at her bedroom door as Rafael hadn't heard her yet, so she was taking a minute to just appreciate the sight of him laying in her bed. Rafael could feel Olivia's eyes on him and he raised his eyebrow. "You see something you like, Lieutenant?"

She laughed softly, laying her clothes in the wash basket. "Just trying to get used to the sight of Rafael Barba laying in my bed with nothing but his boxers on." She smirked at him as she climbed into the bed beside him.

Rafael sat his phone down when she climbed in beside him and he wrapped his arm around her as she snuggled into his side immediately. He kissed the top of her head. "Well, you did tell me to get comfortable, Cariño," he said with a chuckle as he ran his hand along her back slowly. "So, is it a sight you want to see more often?" Rafael felt a bit nervous putting that question out there. Sure, he was confident and cocky when it came to the courtroom and matters of the law, but when it came to matters of the heart he was back to being a nervous teenager. That small boy from el barrio that wanted to keep himself guarded and protected.

Olivia couldn't help but run her fingertips along Rafael's chest and stomach gently as she lay her head on his shoulder and listened to him talk. "It's a sight that I want to see as often as you'll allow me. I know this is so new to us both, and we haven't exactly discussed everything yet, but know that I want this, Rafa. When you said that you were all in with both me and Noah, you have no idea how much I've wanted to hear those words from you. For longer than I want to admit." Olivia was quiet for a minute gathering her thoughts, and Rafael didn't say anything yet as he knew she was working up the courage to say something. "It scares me, Rafa, because you have the ability to hurt me more than anyone ever has. What I feel for you I have never felt before, and if it didn't work between us I would be losing my best friend and the man I love." She took a deep breath as she drew random shapes on his chest. "But... We... You are worth the risk... I'm all in.. I just have to ask you to promise me one thing?"

Rafael was pretty sure his heart had stopped while he was waiting for Olivia to finish what was going through her mind, but when he heard her say she was all in he couldn't stop the smile that was on his face. He also had a good idea of what she was going to ask him to promise, so he decided to say it before she even asked. "Liv, mi amor, no matter what happens between us I promise you that I won't just walk out of Noah's life. I will do everything and anything I can to make this relationship between you and me work, but Noah has my heart now too. I'm in his life for as long as you both will allow me to be."

Olivia couldn't help the tears that had appeared in her eyes. One slid slowly down her cheek. Rafael was incredible. Ed Tucker had tried to accept Noah, but always got annoyed that he didn't get enough alone with Olivia. That was a stark contrast to Rafael, who was already including and planning a future with Noah in it as much as Olivia was in it. "I have no idea what I did to deserve you, Rafael Barba, but I am so thankful that Captain Harris brought you into my life six years ago." Olivia kissed his neck, hiding her face as she tried to gather her emotions from everything. Rafael held Olivia tight as he could feel her hot tears against his neck but after her blow up with Stone over wakening Noah and their love confessions he knew she needed to let this out of her system. So, he held her close, whispering how much he loved her.

Olivia finally gathered her emotions together and he pulled her head back a little as she ran her hand along the light stubble that Rafael now had. "I really don't know where to even begin to apologize for Stone, but I swear that I did not invite him to Noah's Ball game nor did Noah," she said, "and him showing up like that at my apartment has only happened once before. I don't let him inside."

Rafael leaned down, pressing his lips to Olivia's and was pleased as he felt her melt into his arms as she started to relax. When they had to break the kiss for air, he lay his forehead against hers gently. "Liv, I trust you and believe you, but I really don't want to talk about Peter Stone tonight. I want to fall asleep holding the woman I love and tomorrow when we wake up I want to get up and have breakfast with her and her perfect son." Rafael smiled, brushing the hair from Olivia's face gently as he kissed her forehead. "We can face Peter Stone and whatever shit he wants to try and pull tomorrow, but for tonight, it's just you, me and Noah."

Olivia smiled honestly as she kissed Rafael with as much love and emotion that one person could. "I love you so much, Rafa. You really do seem too good to be true at times." She smiled, placing small kisses to his lips, before finally snuggling into his arms getting comfortable for sleep. "Goodnight, Rafa."

She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of Rafael's heartbeat as it kept her so calm and she fell asleep easier than she had done in months.

Rafael smiled, feeling Olivia's breathing even out, knowing that she had fallen asleep. He lay, running his fingertips along her back slowly, and he soon fell asleep himself.

He had slept the best that he had in longer than he would care to remember, he didn't want to move from the warm cocoon they were in but he could hear something ringing by his head. Before he could react, he heard Olivia groaning and felt her reaching across his chest lifting the phone to answer it. "Lieutenant Benson."

He had no idea how Olivia had managed to sound so awake when he was almost falling back to sleep.

The other side of the line was quiet for a minute before a voice spoke. "Lieutenant Benson, you care to tell me why your answering Barba's phone?"

_Shit!_ Olivia knew that voice. It was Rita Calhoun. She had forgotten that both her phone and Barba's were beside each other on the bedside cabinet.

She shook Rafael's shoulder to try and wake him, but he groaned, mumbling, "hmm, five more minutes, Cariño." He wrapped his arms around her trying to snuggle her in tight to him, forgetting that she was on the phone.

Rita Calhoun was trying her best not to laugh as she could make out Rafael's voice. Olivia was thankful that Rita could not see her right now and see that she was actually blushing.

Olivia finally found her voice. "Calhoun, let me just get Barba for you. He's right here. We must have got our phones mixed up."

This time, the defence attorney couldn't hold back the chuckle. That was all it took for Rafael to wake up properly and he looked at Olivia taking the phone from her as she mouthed, "I am so sorry." She lay her head in Rafael's neck trying to hide the embarrassment of the mistake she had just made. They hadn't even spoken about whether they were telling people about their relationship or not.

Rafael took the phone from Liv kissing her head when she hid in his neck and he looked at the clock beside his head. "Seriously, Rita? It's 6:30. This had seriously better be an emergency that you're waking me up for." The two attorneys had a great relationship since they went to Harvard together and Rita was one of the few people that Rafael actually trusted.

Rita couldn't help smirking. Even though Rafael couldn't see her he could hear it in her voice. "Did I interrupt your time with Lieutenant Benson, Rafael? I mean I housed you in Miami for the last three months and you don't even text to tell me that you're back in New York? I mean, come on, Rafael! You can do better than that."

Rafael groaned at Rita's comment, but knew she was right. "Rita, I'm sorry, but I flew back late so that I could be here for Noah's ball game yesterday, and since then, well, I've been a little busy." He ran his hand through Liv's hair slowly. "But you're right. I should have texted or emailed, but please tell me that is not why you decided to waken the Benson household at this horrible hour - and be warned, I haven't had my coffee yet."

Rita's laughter came over the phone. "How would one possibly know the difference? You're always grumpy, Rafael unless you're talking about Benson. But no, that is not why I woke you. I am ringing to find out why the hell it's your name that's on a warrant I have here in my hand for my client's dorm room."

Rafael ran his hand over his face. "So, you're going up against Peter Stone?" He couldn't help the laugh when Rita proceeded to call Stone an asshole. "I see he really isn't making himself any friends in the city. But... Rita, the warrant is legal. I still have my licence in New York. SVU couldn't get their hands on Stone, so I stepped in to help them out."

Rita was listening to him closely. "I know you weren't disbarred. But what you really meant is Benson asked and you have never said no to that woman." She chuckled before continuing. "In that case then, Counsellor," she said, letting that term settle for a minute for him, "I shall be seeing you and Lieutenant Benson in her office tomorrow at 9 o'clock sharp. And don't you two be late." Rita hung up and Rafael sat his phone on the bedside cabinet again and he ran his now free hand along Olivia's shoulder and down her back.

Olivia's was listening to the conversation as she could hear Rita on the phone as the room was quiet otherwise. "Rafa, I am sorry. I wasn't completely awake when I answered the phone, and I just thought it was mine and I lifted it without even looking at it and - Oh god. Rita is on this case, and now she knows you spent the night here and this is just going to get bad." Olivia was talking quite fast as she was nervous. She didn't know how Rafael would react to the fact she answered his phone.

Rafael kissed her head. "Cariño. calm down. It's really okay. I have no problem with you answering my phone. Just maybe give me warning next time if it's going to give away that we're in the same bed," he teased playfully to show her that it really didn't bother him. "As for Rita, she may tease us when it's just the three of us in a room, but she won't say anything to anyone else. I can promise you that. Anyway, she will be having too much fun holding this over me for a little bit... Why don't you go and jump into the shower and I'll go and make the three of us a nice breakfast? We both know it's going to be a long day."

Olivia leaned up and kissed Rafael, running her tongue along his bottom lip until she could feel her tongue meeting with his. There was no fighting for dominance in the kiss. Both were happy to take their time and explore this new aspect of their relationship. Rafael groaned as he broke the kiss breathing a little heavier. "Liv, you really need to get out of this bed before I decide to keep you in it all day." He spoke with such honesty and desire that Liv considered just forgetting everything and getting lost in the bed together.

She placed one more kiss to his lips. "I'm going to hold you to that, Rafa, once we get this case sorted. I want some time just you and me where no can interrupt." She kissed his cheek and jumped up out of the bed.

Rafael threw his head back into the pillow, groaning playfully. "You are killing me slowly, Liv. You know that, right?" He could hear her chuckling while turning on the shower, so he gathered his jeans and shirt as he went to the kitchen to make them breakfast.


	9. Chapter 9

When Olivia got out of the shower she could hear laughing in the kitchen, so she got dried quickly and dressed for her day at work. When she checked that she had everything she needed she headed into the kitchen and she stopped when her eyes landed on the scene before her. Rafael Barba was currently standing in her kitchen in his jeans and undershirt cooking breakfast with her son, who was laughing at his Uncle Rafa's - playfully overdramatic - antics. The man's café con leche momentarily forgotten off to the side.

Olivia took out her phone and took a quick picture of her boys like that. The moment captured, she decided to finally let them know she was there. "So, what's this? You two are cooking again?"

Noah smiled and jumped down off the stool that he was standing on. He then ran to his mother, hugging her tightly. "Uncle Rafa made pancakes and he let me help! We made faces on all the pancakes!"

Olivia laughed softly at how excited Noah was this early in the morning and she kissed her son's head of messy curls. "Well, the pancakes smell delicious, Sweetie. I'm just hoping that the faces aren't all made out of syrup or chocolate." She raised her eyebrow at Rafael playfully knowing how persuasive her son could be when he really wanted something.

Rafael shook his head and laughed. "One has syrup and chocolate but the rest have fruit and some bacon, and there are eggs as well... However, you do have a future lawyer in the making right there, Lieutenant," he said, "because trust me, it was not easy to persuade him to agree to this arrangement." Rafael pointed at Noah playfully.

Noah giggled. "Uncle Rafa, you're silly... If I don't become a cop like Mama then I'll be a lawyer just like you, Uncle Rafa." Noah gestured towards him. "He told me that he would be Eddie's lawyer if we put him in jail again." Noah looked up at his mother, smiling.

Olivia laughed, hearing Noah, as she lifted him up to his seat at the breakfast bar. "Oh, you already have a lawyer for Eddie? Does that mean he's planning on getting himself in some trouble again? Maybe eating all the ice cream?"

Noah giggled as Rafael served them pancakes with fruit, bacon, eggs and some syrup, but pausing, he looked at Noah and winked. "I have advised my client and his owner not to speak to you, Lieutenant, until we have had time to better discuss my client's situation. Isn't that right, Noah?"

Noah nodded knowingly with his mouth full of pancake.

Olivia looked at the two of them and couldn't help the smile on her face. She was sure her cheeks were going to hurt if she kept smiling like this, but right now she was the happiest she had been since the day she adopted Noah. And she looked at Rafael and lay her hand on his as he sat down across from them with his plate of pancakes. "Thank you, Rafa, for breakfast and for letting Noah help you with it. It means a lot."

Rafael smiled at Olivia and he turned his hand around entangling their fingers together. "You don't have to thank me, Liv. I should be the one thanking you for letting me be here and be a part of all this with you both. I really didn't picture my morning like this when I was leaving Miami to come here." He smiled, squeezing Olivia's hand. "And I'm sorry if me being here this morning causes... erm... a lot of questions from a certain young boy." He spoke quietly so that Noah couldn't hear him. Rafael had been nervous when Noah came out of his room to the kitchen as he wasn't sure how the young boy was going to react seeing him there so early in the morning.

Olivia watched Noah as he cuddled Eddie while eating his breakfast. "Rafa, you know that Noah loves you and loves you being here. He won't have a problem with you of all people being here more. Yes, this is new for him, but he doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all."

Rafael was surprised to hear that this was new to Noah. "Didn't Tucker hang around for breakfast?" He almost spat the name out as he couldn't and wouldn't hide that he had been jealous.

Olivia shook her head. "I always made sure he was gone before Noah got up. Like I said, with you, this is totally different Rafa, and I think you'll find that both me and Noah are more than okay with that." Liv smiled as she started to eat her breakfast.

The three of them ate breakfast while listening to Noah talk about his day ahead at school and how excited he was to see his friends and talk about their ball game on Saturday. After they made breakfast, Rafael cleaned up while Liv took Noah to get dressed and check that he had everything in his bag for school. Olivia then got her badge and gun from the safe and Noah came running out of his room shouting that he was ready.

Rafael looked at Olivia. "Why don't you let me take Noah to school? You can head into the precinct get the team to catch you up. I'll go home for a quick shower and get changed and then I'll meet you at your office in time for Rita to show up."

Olivia didn't want to put Rafael out by asking him to take Noah to school, but now that he was offering she was so happy. "That would be great if you're sure you don't mind because I want to make sure that I know everything before Rita and Stone turn up for their showdown," she said, "which we are gonna be caught up in after yesterday."

Rafael smiled, squeezing Olivia's hands gently. "Liv, I honestly don't mind. If I didn't want to do it I wouldn't have suggested, and this way the school can meet me in case you ever need me to collect Noah," he added, "'cause I know Lucy is crazy busy with her exams right now."

She smiled and leaned in kissing him softly and quickly as Noah was there and ran her hand down her arm. "Thank you, Rafa. I really appreciate all this, and I'll see you in my office. Just make sure your not late because I am not dealing with Rita on my own," she said, laughing softly. She then kneeled down, hugging Noah. "Okay, Sweet boy, Uncle Rafa is going to take you to school and I will see you in time for dinner." She hugged Noah tight and kissed his head.

Rafael came over taking Noah's hand when he held his hand out to his uncle. "Okay, Amigo, let's go. Do you think that you can show me the way to your school?" Rafael knew exactly where Noah's school was but he wanted to let the young boy feel like he was leading the way.

Noah pulled Rafael's hand gently towards the door. "I'll show you, Uncle Rafa. Don't worry, we won't get lost." He giggled as he opened the door. "See you later, Mama. I love you," he said, yelling slightly.

Just like that, her two boys were off. She couldn't shake how domesticated this morning had felt, but it didn't scare her like it did in the past. Instead, it made her really happy and feel loved. She shook her head to stop daydreaming and she grabbed her car keys and headed off to the precinct.

As they were walking to school Noah was talking about anything and everything. Rafael admired the way that a young child's mind could work. He listened closely to the young boy and answered him when he really needed to as he wanted to make sure that Noah had his full attention and felt comfortable with him. Noah was quiet for a while and this worried Rafael a little. "Amigo, are you okay?" He squeezed Noah's hand gently.

The young boy looked up at him as they reached his school. "Are you going to be having sleepovers more often with my mom?"

Rafael was a little thrown off by Noah's question. He knew the young boy would have questions but he thought he would be asking them from his mother and not from him. Rafael got down to be the same height as Noah. "That will only be happening if it's okay with you, Noah. If you're not okay with me staying over or being there too much then all you have to do is tell your mom or I, okay? Neither of us will be mad with you."

Noah nodded. "Does it mean that you'll be spending more time there when I'm awake? like for dinner and to play?"

Rafael smiled at the innocence of Noah's questions because they were simple but to Noah they were huge. He squeezed the young boy's hands gently. "Again, Noah, that's only if you want me to... And you don't have to answer me now, okay? You take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere."

Noah smiled brightly and wrapped his arms tight around Rafael's neck hugging him. "I want you with us more, Uncle Rafa. I just didn't want it to always be when I was asleep, so we can have some time to play."

Rafael smiled, hugging Noah back just as tightly, remembering Olivia telling her that Tucker wasn't that great at including Noah. "Noah, your mother and I will be spending all the time that we can with you. I may take her out for dinner some times just me and her, but when I do I promise that we will be with you before and after dinner. Does that sound okay?"

Noah smiled nodding. "Okay, Uncle Rafa. I love you."

Rafael was surprised by the young boy's words. He smiled, running his hand through Noah's curls. "I love you too, Hombrecito. Now, let's get you inside before you're late and I get in some trouble with your mom."

Noah giggled as he walked inside with Rafael and he introduced his '_Uncle Rafa_' to his teacher. Rafael then waved at Noah before he turned to leave and he took out his phone, sending a quick text to Olivia. _'Noah is safely at school and I got to meet his teacher. I will be at the precinct soon. Love you. X'_

Rafael smiled, sliding his phone back into his pocket, having really enjoyed his morning and the fact that he now got to tell Olivia how much he loved her. He was also quite pleased he was getting to spend so much time with her and Noah.


	10. Chapter 10

Rafael went home to his apartment. Once there, he went straight to his bathroom, jumping in for a quick shower. He got out, wrapping the towel around his waist, and then looked at himself in the mirror, deciding to clean up his stubble. He knew he wasn't going into the precinct as the ADA, but he wasn't sure yet what they were going to need from him as his name was on the warrant. After he shaved, he decided to wear his grey trousers and a shirt. He wanted to look good but not as professionally dressed as he was as an ADA. He then did his hair the way he was used to it and he actually smiled when he looked in the mirror. There. He looked like his old self... just without the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Rafael grabbed his phone and headed out of his apartment and towards the precinct. He stopped at the local cafe close to the precinct and he picked up a snack and coffee for Olivia and her squad as well as for Rita as a little peace offering for not letting her know he was back in New York. When he made sure he had something for everyone, Rafael headed into the precinct.

He nodded at a few people, saying good morning to the ones that recognized him. To his surprise, they weren't treating him any differently from how they had before and this helped him relax as he reached the bullpen.

Fin was the first to spot him. "Barba, good to see you again. I know Liv said you both were meeting with Rita, but I don't think you're going to need that much coffee." Fin teased him like they always did about his coffee intake, as they were pretty sure Rafael had more coffee than blood in his body.

He laughed as he walked over to Fin's desk, setting down one of the holders that had three coffee cups in it. "This time not all of them are for me. Your names should be on them and I brought a little something to eat for you guys as I'm sure you all have been here since first thing this morning."

Fin smiled genuinely which was a bit rare for him. "Damn, thanks, Barba man. We appreciate it cause the coffee here, well it's just not going to be enough today."

Rollins and Carisi came out of the break room and Rollins stopped. "Is that proper decent coffee that I can smell?"

Rafael gave a small chuckle at that. "Good nose you've got there, Detective... But, yes, there is coffee there for you all... Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get Liv's coffee into her before it goes cold."

The three officers thanked Rafael for the coffee and food as they immediately dug into them. He headed to Olivia's office and he knocked on the door before walking in and he smiled when he spotted Olivia. "Hey there again."

Olivia smiled looking up from her desk upon hearing Rafael speak. "Hey, you! I see you've been home to shave and change... You look good, Rafa. Athough I have to admit, I did like getting to see a sleepy Barba with messy bed hair," she said, teasing him as he walked over to her desk, handing her a cup of her favourite coffee.

Rafael sat down opposite the brunette's desk. He let his hand brush against her's as she took the coffee from him. "Well, not many people get to see me with messy hair, Lieutenant. You know how I am... And, I wanted to dress to be prepared, just in case, because we really have no idea where this is going to go when Rita gets here."

Olivia sipped her coffee and smiled looking at Rafael. "Thank you for the coffee. I didn't feel like drinking the delicious coffee that we have here after drinking your expensive coffee this morning." She pulled a funny face making Rafael laugh.

He loved how they had just picked up like they weren't separated for three months and the shift of their friendship into a relationship hadn't caused any changes other than they flirted with each other more now. Rafael filled Olivia in on his conversation with Noah outside the school and what he had said to him. They were chatting about plans this afternoon when there was a knock at Olivia's door and Rafael turned his head to see Rita Calhoun standing there.

Rita smirked playfully at them both as she walked in. "Do you two want some more time alone before we start? Or do you not need it now that you can get that at home?"

Olivia looked at Rita a bit sheepishly. "My apologies again, Counsellor, about this morning. It won't be happening again."

Rafael glared at Rita and handed her the coffee that he had gotten her. "Okay, you've had your fun. Now, can we please talk about the case and not my love life?"

Rita looked at Rafael. "I'm just glad you finally have a love life that we can talk about." She then looked at Olivia. "And I'm sure Rafael has already told you, but your secret is safe with me. You have given me new material to use on your boyfriend, however, so thank you for that."

Rafael was going to retort with something smart about calling him Olivia's boyfriend but the sound of it actually stopped him. It was everything he ever wanted. So, he wasn't going to argue about it when it was true. "Just no telling my mother, until Liv and I tell her ourselves, because that one she would go to the grave not forgiving me for."

Rita nodded. "I'm cruel, Rafael, but I'd like to stay on your mother's good side. Frankly, blurting that news out to her before her own son did... well, I know how that would end for us both... So, about this case... Do you want to fill me in on what's really going on that caused you to have to sign the warrant?"

Rafael knew what to trust Rita with without giving away Olivia's case that they had built against Rita's client. He mostly told her about the issues the team were having with Stone, who managed to just then storm into the bullpen. "Where is Lieutenant Benson? I need to see her now!"

Rafael groaned when he heard Stone's voice. "Seriously? Does this guy not know how to enter a room or how to act around people?"

They could hear Fin telling him that Olivia was in a meeting with Barba and Calhoun. He could also hear Stone shouting as he walked over and swung open Liv's office door.

Rafael raised his eyebrow looking at Stone. "Someone needs to seriously teach you how to enter an office. You usually knock and then wait to be told you can enter. We were just in the middle of a meeting, Counsellor, which there was no reason for you to be a part of."

Rita was trying hard not to smirk sitting beside Rafael as it was good to see her old friend back to his cocky self.

Stone sat his briefcase down slamming it on the table. "If this was about my case then I have every right to be in on this damn meeting. Don't you think you have messed with my case enough, Barba? You just seem to be conveniently showing up everywhere these last two days. Are you sure you're here for the right side of this case?"

Rafael couldn't actually help but laugh. "You got me, Stone! I've been working undercover for Rita to find out what you guys have on her client. Seriously? Does my presence threaten you that much? Or do you just not like that I'm hanging around Liv again? Is that what your problem is Stone?"

Rafael was now standing face to face with Stone.

The anger was clear on Stone's face and every word Rafael said was just pushing him further over the edge. "I just don't know what the hell your doing here, Barba. This isn't your job anymore. You're not a part of their team. I am their ADA now, not you, and they have to get used to that fact because I'm not going anywhere. You should have shown me professional respect and not sent for that warrant behind my back... As for you being at Benson's apartment last night, looking very comfortable with her son, and now following her around like a puppy... I have no idea why you think that would bother me."

Rafael smirked, laughing. "Professional respect? Like you and Jack McCoy did when you both put me on trial for murder? And I can't show professional respect to someone who doesn't know how to do their damn job... You're what my mother calls patéticamente incompetente. And, now that you brought up last night... Don't ever call to Liv's apartment again about a case - or anything for that matter... You may be their ADA Stone, but that's all you are to them."

Olivia's team were standing outside her office listening to the conversation - wanting to watch this showdown between the ADAs - as Olivia and Rita stood side by side watching the men battle it out with their words.

Stone looked at him, a smirk forming on the man's face. "This case has nothing to do with you, Barba, so if you can just leave, I'm sure Benson would appreciate you going home to look after her son and to cook them a meal. You can make that your new job."

He was about to respond but Rita beat him to it as she stepped forward. "I'm the one that asked Rafael to be here since he's the one that signed the warrant, so unless you were sleeping during class at law school you know that makes him part of this case, whether you like it or not. Me, personally, I hate it, but only because I knew I could win this case against you, but now that Barba is involved with Benson and her team that makes my job a lot harder. So, thanks for that, Stone. Do you think next time, Counsellor, you could do your job properly and that way I can work on getting more wins on my record?"

Rafael was trying not to laugh at Stone's face when Rita was talking to him. Stone looked at Rita. "I'll have you know, I finished the top of my class, so I know the law just fine, thank you. I do not need nor want Barba's help on this case. I am more than capable of taking it to trial and putting your client behind bars."

Rita snorted. "Oh really? Well, if you're not going to make use of him then maybe I should offer Rafael a job. We can let him go up against you in a courtroom to see which one of you is the better lawyer, even though we all know the answer to that one." Rita looked at her watch. "Now, if you excuse me I have a meeting uptown that I can't be late for." Rita looked between Rafael and Olivia. "Olivia, I'll be seeing you in court." She smiled at her and then looked at Rafael. "You owe me a drink, Rafael. Actually, a lot of drinks. When you get a free night give me a shout." She smiled at him and walked past Stone. "I would say it has been a pleasure, Counsellor, but that would be a lie." Rita walked past him, leaving the office.

Stone looked at Olivia. "Who the hell does she think she is talking to me like that and about our case like that? She has no idea what I can do in a courtroom."

"Incluso es más estúpido de lo que pensaba," he deadpanned, the direction of his glance making it very clear to everyone there _just_ who he was referring to. (He's even stupider than I thought.)

Olivia looked from Rafael to Stone, understanding Rafael's comment easily. Stone didn't understand, but, he nevertheless, clearly knew it was an insult. "Counsellor Calhoun has one of the best records for a defence attorney. You can count on one hand the number of cases that she has lost, and they have all been cases tried by Rafael." She took a step forward. "So, we have our work cut out for us, Counsellor. That means that it would be nice for you to actually do your job and get my team the warrants when they request them. Calhoun will have a field day in court telling a jury that you were incompetent and we had to get Rafael to step in for you for the warrant."

Stone sighed. "Let's just go through what you and your team have so far and I will try to figure out a way to save this case that you and your team are slowly screwing up for this girl. If we don't get her so-called rapist you can be the one to tell her."

Olivia shook her head. "Actually, Counsellor, you can explain to her how you don't believe she was raped so don't think this is worth your time. Now, if you don't mind, can you please leave? I have a meeting to finish with Counsellor Barba and you are not needed. My team will catch you up on everything we have so far - out there at the whiteboard."

Stone went to argue with Olivia but she walked over holding the door for him and looked at Fin. "Fin, you guys take Counsellor Stone through what we have found so far from Barba's warrant. I will join you all in a few minutes."

Fin nodded. "Sure thing, Boss. Counsellor, let's go. We're going to finish the coffee and snacks Barba brought us since we missed breakfast having to be here so early."

Rafael was trying not to laugh hearing Fin as it was clear he was mentioning Rafael to Stone just to wind Stone up. This showed Rafael they really didn't like Stone, and after yesterday and today, he really couldn't blame them for disliking him. Olivia rubbing Stone's face in the fact that Rafael was back to being Counsellor as well, was just the icing on the cake.

Olivia closed her office door and looked at Rafael. He looked at Olivia as he sat down on her couch. "So, you wanted to have a private meeting with me, Lieutenant?" He smirked playfully as Olivia walked over to him sitting down beside him and she lay her head on Rafael's shoulder as the blinds of her office were closed.

His girlfriend closed her eyes briefly. "I swear, I don't know how much longer I can put up with Stone and the jealousy."


	11. Chapter 11

Rafael took Olivia's hand in his squeezing it gently. "Liv, Cariño, you are strong enough to deal with Stone. You have the backing of your team and I'm not going anywhere, you can vent to me all you want about him. It really won't bother me I promise you. But don't let someone like Stone stop you from doing the job that you love. As for his jealousy, well, that's something I kinda have to deal with, since I don't like the idea of him flirting with you at work when I'm not around... Maybe Fin can have a nice chat with him?" Rafael joked playfully

Olivia chuckled softly as she played with Rafael's fingers while listening to him. She really couldn't explain how calm he made her feel just by even sitting there with her. She had never had anything like it before. Not even with Elliot Stabler. There was something about Rafael that made her feel safe and made her let out her vulnerable side that most didn't get to see. People saw her as the hard as nails Lieutenant at work and just assumed that she was like that in her personal life too but she was actually the opposite of that. She liked to be looked after and to feel loved. And Rafael was doing all that for her and when she thought about it he had been doing that from the day he walked into her life.

"Having you here, face to face with me, is already making the idea of it all seem so much less daunting," she told him. "I do have a great team they have been trying to mostly deal with Stone for me because I hate walking into that office. It's always going to be your office to me."

Rafael really had no idea what he had done to deserve this woman's love and trust, but he sure as hell wasn't going to do anything to mess it up. Not now that he had her in every way that he had ever imagined. "Well, maybe now that you can see me, and know that I'll be there when you get home it will be easier to go into that office. You still have me, Liv, and I'm not leaving again. From what Noah, Lucy and the team have told me you haven't stopped to relax since I left. They say that you've been working or else with Noah and haven't been going out with them for drinks anymore. So, how about tonight we all go out for drinks? You can invite Melinda as well. We can just relax and enjoy the night. Or, if you want a night with Amanda and Melinda then I can babysit Noah and Jesse."

Olivia was surprised to hear Rafael's offer to babysit Jesse along with Noah and she lifted her head off his shoulder to look at him, keeping her hand in his. She smiled softly. "You would really do that for me? You would babysit both Noah and Jesse just so that I could have a night out with Melinda and Amanda?" Olivia was surprised because if she even suggested a night out on her own with the girls to Ed he would have said that she was drinking too much and well, Brian, he would have demanded that he went as well.

Rafael smiled, lightly caressing her cheek with his the back of his fingers. "Mi amor, if you want a night out with the team... on your own, or with Amanda and Melinda, or with whoever to let off some steam then, of course, I would be happy to babysit. I meant it when I said that I wanted to do whatever I could to make you and Noah happy. So you just tell me what you need and want and I'm going to do my best to make sure it happens. Te quiero tanto, Cariño."

Olivia closed her eyes briefly hearing him speak Spanish as she loved when he would speak Spanish. She caught him off guard as she leaned forward pressing her lips against his gently, to begin with, before she deepened the kiss and she ran her fingers to the nape of his neck scratching it gently with her fingertips which drew a moan from Rafael's lips as her touch on his neck was driving him crazy. Olivia broke the kiss leaning her forehead against his. "I want to go out tonight with the team... and that includes you... I'll ask Lucy to stay on later tonight."

Rafael smiled as he leaned up, pressing his lips to Olivia's forehead. "Then you can count me in, Cariño. I wouldn't miss it for the world. But, how about you head home to say goodnight to Noah first and then we can meet up?" he brushed her hair from her face gently as some had fallen during their heated kiss.

Olivia smiled. Hearing Rafael consider how much she loved saying goodnight to her son made her heart flutter. "You know, I don't think anyone would believe me if I told them that Rafael Barba had this side to him," she teased him playfully, "but that sounds perfect, Rafa. I get to kiss my son goodnight and then I get to go and spend the night with my family and the man that I love."

Rafael chuckled softly at Olivia teasing him about his soft side. "Well, just keep that little secret to yourself, Liv, because I have a reputation to keep!" He raised an eyebrow playfully. "So, how about we go out there and face the music with Stone and then get you home to your sweet boy so that we can enjoy our night out tonight?"

Olivia kissed Rafael quickly once more before she stood up squeezing his hand gently. "Thank you for everything, Rafa. You know exactly what to do and say and that means more to me that you will ever realize."

Rafael stood up smiling looking at Olivia. "You have the same impact on my life, Liv, and I'm just glad that I was able to help you." He fixed his shirt and reluctantly let go of her hand. "Let's go out there and deal with Stone so he'll leave us alone for the day."

Olivia nodded and she opened her office door and walked out to her team with Rafael close behind her as they listened in to the team filling Stone in on everything.

Carisi kept talking when he saw Olivia and Rafael join them again. The team answered Stone's questions and they were choosing to ignore the way he was with them. When they had questions about something they would ask Rafael first who was more than happy to help out the team. This just pissed off Stone even more, but Rafael was trying not to laugh as the team made it obvious that they were enjoying pissing Stone off.

After they had covered every detail of the case, Stone stood up to leave and he looked at Olivia. "Care to meet me after work, Benson? You can let me know if you guys have got any more leads or solid evidence that I can use to guarantee the win in court."

She looked back at Stone. "If we find anything we will let you know, Stone, but if you'll excuse us we have work to do so that we can all get out of here at a decent time since we have a team night out planned."

Stone was trying not to look embarrassed when the detective shut him down. "Enjoy your night out, Benson, and maybe I'll bump into you for a drink or two."

Fin stepped in before Rafael could say anything. "Sorry, Stone. We only have room for one counsellor on our outing and that spot belongs to Barba."

Stone shook his head and just ignored Fin and kept his attention on Olivia. "Well, maybe we can catch that drink another night. If you need anything Lieutenant you know just to call me."

Stone left and Fin raised his eyebrow looking at Liv. "Okay, Liv, tell me that you finally see that Stone is interested in you as a woman and not just a cop."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Fin? You're really not going to let that drop? If I admit to seeing it now will you and Rafael leave me alone?" She pulled a funny face

Rafael laughed softly. "We can't promise anything," he said, smirking playfully.

Rollins stood up. "Okay, guys, as much fun as this is, cause Liv they're right, how about we get to work. I heard ya'll mention drinks, so let's get to work."

Fin, Carisi and Amanda started in to the few leads they had as Liv lead Rafael back in to her office. Rafael looked at Liv. "I can't really do anything for you guys right now until you have theories that you can run by me... So, how about I go to your place to Noah, give Lucy a few hours off, I'll cook dinner so that you can eat when you get home and then Lucy can be back in time for us heading out to have drinks with the others?"

Liv was a little apprehensive about her and Rafael heading together to the bar but then she realized that her team wouldn't think anything of it and she smiled. "If you're sure you really don't mind... I mean, if your mother wants to meet up with you or needs you to help out with things then don't worry. I can pay Lucy extra for the long hours."

Rafael shook his head. "My mother is crazy busy with work. She has free time this weekend that I am going to meet up with her during, but until then, you and Noah are free to use me for my babysitting and cooking skills. I mean, doesn't Stone think that's what my new career is going to be?" he quipped.

Liv laughed softly. "For what it's worth, you would be the cutest Manny ever... But, we both know you'll be back working when you feel ready. And if you really are serious about offering up babysitting for a while then I know Noah would love more time with Uncle Rafa."

Rafael squeezed Liv's hand gently running his thumb over her hand. "Then if you need me Lieutenant you will find me in your apartment with your son. I promise you'll still have a home when you get there." He leaned in kissing Liv's cheek as the blinds were still closed.

Liv smiled squeezing Rafael's hand back gently. "Thank you, Rafa, and give my sweet boy a hug from me when you see him."

Rafa smiled. "I will make sure he knows it's from you, and if you need me for anything case or non case related then just ring me. I'll see you later, Liv. I love you."

Olivia couldn't help the smile on her face hearing those three words from Rafael. It was like now that he had told her how he felt he couldn't stop himself from telling her he loved her whenever he got the chance and she was loving this side to him "I love you too, Rafa. I'll be home to see my boys as soon as I can."

Rafael smiled as he held Liv's hand for as long as he could as he walked towards her door and he left her office saying to the team that he would see them tonight. Liv stood in her office watching Rafael until she couldn't see him any more before she went back to her desk and sent a message to Lucy to tell her it was okay to leave Rafa with Noah for a few hours.

She smiled at the idea of Noah getting to spend so much time with his Uncle Rafa as he had missed him nearly as much as she had.

Rafael headed to his own apartment to get clothes to change in to for the night out with the team and Liv and then he headed to her apartment to spend a few hours with Noah.


	12. Chapter 12

Rafael got his things together at his apartment and then he headed over to Olivia's apartment, he rang his mother on the way as he had promised he would be in contact with her as much as he could now that he had more free time on his hands.

Rafael knocked on Liv's apartment door and he smiled when he heard Noah's voice from the other side. "Who is it?"

"It's Uncle Rafa, Noah. Can you let me in, Compay?" Rafael smiled as he heard Noah get to the lock and he opened the door and Rafael laughed as he felt Noah run into his legs.

Lucy came out of the bathroom and raised her eyebrow seeing Noah. "I'm hoping you asked who was at the door before opening, Noah?"

Rafael walked inside setting down his bag and he lifted Noah up. "Hey. Lucy, don't worry. He checked who it was first and only opened the door when I spoke"

Noah smiled proudly. "See? I told you and Mommy that I can answer the door safely."

Lucy smiled ruffling Noah's curls. "We just want to make sure, Noah. Hi, Mr Barba. Liv texted to say that you would be babysitting for the rest of the afternoon?"

Rafael smiled setting Noah down. "Please, Lucy, call me Rafael. And yeah, I thought that I would come and hang out with mi amigo and give you a little break. I know that you have exams coming up. Both Liv and Noah have mentioned it, and you're doing Liv a huge favour babysitting Noah tonight."

Lucy smiled as she grabbed her bag. "Thank you, Mr - Sorry, I mean Rafael. This is a huge help. The library is usually really quiet at this time, so I will get a lot of work done and then this little guy and I can have some fun tonight."

Noah looked up at Rafa and Lucy. "Why can't you mind me tonight, Uncle Rafa?"

Lucy knew that Noah loved hanging out with her, so she wasn't taking it personally. She knew that Noah had really missed Rafael as had Olivia.

Rafael sat down on the couch so that he was face to face with Noah. "You know that I love hanging out with you, Amigo, but I'm actually joining mommy and the team tonight. But, I promise that on Saturday you will have me all day to yourself if you want. Even if Mommy has to work, you and I can still do something. Ok? »

Noah jumped up and wrapped his arms around Rafael. "Really, Uncle Rafa? You will still hang out with me Saturday even if Mama get's called into work?"

Rafael smiled nodding. "Of course I will, Amigo. Now, why don't you thank Lucy and tell her that you'll see her again later?"

Noah ran over and wrapped his arms around Lucy's legs. "Thank you, Lucy. I'll see you again later. And we can play 'cause you won't have homework right?"

Lucy chuckled softly and nodded. "I won't even take out my books while you're awake. And we can play whatever you want." She ruffled Noah's hair. "I will be back in a few hours, Kiddo."

Rafael and Noah walked Lucy to the door and waved bye to her. With Lucy gone, the pair went back to the coffee table and they built legos and some jigsaws together before Rafael took Noah into the kitchen as he let the young boy help him cook.

While they were cooking, Liv had texted Rafael to say that they would actually get out of the office on time as there was nothing more they could do tonight. Thankfully, she would be home in time for dinner. Rafael smiled. "Okay, Amigo, Mom is going to be home on time tonight. So, you want to go and set the table and I'll serve up dinner?"

Noah jumped down off the stool and he ran over to the table, setting the table, and he heard a key turning in the door. He immediately ran to the door, running straight to his mother who lifted him up straight away. "Hi, Mama! Me and Uncle Rafa made some dinner and when we're finished Lucy is coming back and she said that we can play anything that I want

Liv smiled so happily upon seeing her son smiling and so excited. "Hey, Sweet boy. It sounds like you have had a busy day and have a busy night ahead of you. Dinner smells really really good. Mom is so hungry. Do I have to wait long for dinner?"

Just then, Rafael came out of the kitchen carrying Liv and Noah's plates. "You don't have to wait at all, Liv. Dinner's ready."

Rafael, Olivia and Noah all sat down together and ate dinner. Noah filled his mother in on his day at school and what he and his Uncle Rafa had been doing before they made dinner.

When they finished eating, the three of them cleaned up the table. Olivia wanted to do the dishes and Rafael smiled, shaking his head. "Liv, let me take care of the dishes. You go and have some time with Noah before we have to get ready to head out."

Liv kissed Rafael's cheek. "You have no idea what it means to me what you're doing for me and for Noah. Thank you, Rafa." Liv smiled, running her hand down his arm slowly, before she left the kitchen and headed in joining Noah in the living room sitting at the coffee table.

When Rafael finished the dishes he told Liv that he was going to use the bathroom to get ready. He went in and changed in to the shirt and trousers that he had brought with him. He knew it wasn't a date since they weren't going out on their own, but this was still a night out with Olivia and he wanted to look good. He checked his shirt and then he fixed his hair, along with spraying some aftershave, before he went back out to Liv and Noah.

Noah smiled, jumping up and running over to Rafael. "You sprayed something, Uncle Rafa."

Rafael laughed softly as he lifted Noah up on to his hip. "I did, Amigo. I wanted to smell good. Do you like it?"

Noah nodded. "It smells nice. Can I wear some, please?"

He smiled so sweetly at Rafael, and Liv was trying not to laugh at the puppy dog eyes Noah was using.

Rafael smiled. "Of course you can, Amigo. Come on. I'll take you to the bathroom to get the aftershave and mommy can go and get ready."

Olivia stood up watching Rafael and Noah. "Rafa, you know that you don't have to put the aftershave on him?" Liv had always loved how Rafael smelled. It was one of the first things that she noticed about him. However, she also knew his tastes and that the aftershave probably cost more than she even wanted to know.

Rafael smiled. "I have no problem sharing my aftershave with him. Honestly, Liv, don't worry. Now, go and get ready or we're going to be late to Forlini's and I'm not listening to Carisi complain if we're late."

Liv laughed at his comment and she kissed him quickly but softly before kissing Noah's cheek. "I'll be right back. You two try to stay out of trouble," she said, teasing the boys as she went into her bedroom to take a shower and to get ready for her night out with Rafael and the squad.

Rafael took Noah into the main bathroom and he put some of his aftershave on the boy. He then fixed the t-shirt Noah was wearing so that the boy looked good as he wanted to look like Uncle Rafa. When they were happy with how they looked they left the bathroom and came out to the living room to wait on Liv.

Noah was playing with his robots when he looked at Rafael. "Uncle Rafa... Can I ask something and you won't get mad?"

Rafael was checking things on his phone but when he heard Noah's question he put the phone down to give the young boy his full attention. "Of course you can, Noah. You can ask me anything that you want. I won't always have the answers, but for you, I will try my best."

Noah nodded and he was quiet for a minute before he looked at Rafael. "Are you Mama's boyfriend?"

Rafael had no idea what Noah was going to ask him but this hadn't entered his mind. "What makes you ask that?"

Noah looked at his Uncle Rafa, talking quietly as he was nervous to ask in case he made him angry at him. "Well, you stayed over last night and the couch wasn't made up. You weren't in my room so you had to be in Mama's, and Mama kissed you on the lips. That's what my friends' mommies and daddies do sometimes."

Olivia had gotten ready and was about to let her boys know that she was ready when she heard Noah's question. It made her freeze. She should have known that she needed to sit down and explain the change to Noah. He was a smart kid. She was about to step in to help Rafael out, but a part of her wanted to wait to see how he handled this question. Before she could make any choice Rafael was answering Noah.

"Well, Amigo, I'm not sure your mom and I would call each other boyfriend or girlfriend, because I think we're a little old for that." Noah's face looked sad when he heard Rafa's words. "But, yes your mom and I are... let's say we're partners. That's the same as being girlfriend and boyfriend. Are you okay with me and your mom being partners, Noah?"

Noah smiled hearing the explanation and he nodded. "You make Mama happy, and I really really like having you here, Uncle Rafa."

Rafael smiled kissing Noah's head. "I'm glad that you're happy with it, Noah. You know that you will be very much part of your mom and I's relationship. We may want to spend a little time alone together, to go out for meals and such, but we also want to spend time with you. All three of us together. Would you like that?"

Noah nodded as he was sitting on his uncle Rafa's lap. Rafael wasn't sure when that happened, but he did enjoy feeling the young boy'd trust in him. "You'll be joining me and Mama at the park and on our day trips?"

Rafael smiled. "If you and your mom are okay with me joining you then I would love to, Noah."

Noah smiled, throwing his arms around Rafael's neck, hugging him tightly. Olivia was standing watching the interaction between the two most important males in her life. Noah spotted his mommy and almost shouted, "Mama, you look so pretty!"

Liv blushed a little at being caught watching them and she walked towards them. "Oh, thank you, Sweet boy. You are so kind. I love you so much."

Rafael smiled looking at Liv. "You look absolutely breathtaking, Olivia." He couldn't help himself from checking her out from head to toe and the way he was looking at her was stirring things in her that she had never felt before with her previous partners.

Just then the door knocked and Noah ran to the door shouting, "Lucy's here!"

When he confirmed it was Lucy he opened the door and started telling Lucy what their plans were for the day.

Rafael smiled hearing Noah. He loved how the boy could go from having a serious conversation to now talking about what movie they were going to watch and what they were going to eat. Rafael looked at Liv. "Are you ready to head out, Liv?"

Liv grabbed her bag, her phone and the apartment keys and then she hugged Noah tight kissing his head. "Be good for Lucy, Sweet boy. I love you and I'll see you in the morning." Noah hugged his mom back tightly, saying goodnight and that he loved her. Rafael was taken back when Noah did the same with him.

When they had all said their goodnights and Liv had gone over a few things with Lucy, Rafael held his hand out to Liv, which she gladly took as they left the apartment and headed to Forlini's.


	13. Chapter 13

When Olivia and Rafael walked inside Forlini's the team weren't there yet and they were both thankful for that as they didn't have to answer any questions about why they arrived together, although they were sure that the team wouldn't ask anyways as that wasn't something that would be new.

Rafael looked at Olivia when they entered and he put his hand on her lower back. "I'll get you a drink, Liv. Do you want to grab us the booth at the back so that we can have privacy to catch up with the team?"

Even though Forlini's was a small bar it was popular and could get really busy at times, but sitting in a booth meant the team could sit together and also that people wouldn't bother them as they were away from the bar.

Olivia smiled, looking at Rafael. "Okay, Rafa. You still remember what I drink?" she asked, teasing him slightly.

Rafael shook his head laughing "I told you before I don't forget things when it comes to you, Cariño. So, yes, I remember."

Olivia laughed softly as she walked over to the booth at the back and Rafael ordered a scotch for himself and a glass of the best Cabernet wine. He also told Anthony, the bartender, who knew Rafael and Olivia really well, to bring out a drink for the others as they would be arriving soon.

Rafael talked briefly with Anthony when the other man asked Rafael if he was back in town for good. He didn't want to leave Olivia sitting on her own for too long, though, so he excused himself from Adam saying they would chat again soon and he headed over to Liv. Rafael slid into the booth beside Olivia and he sat her glass of wine down in front of her as he sat closer to her than normal so that their legs were touching, but since the booth was small no one would pay any attention to how close they were sitting.

Olivia smiled looking at Rafael. "Thank you for the wine, Rafa. I'm guessing Anthony was quizzing you a little? He asked about you any time that I came in, which I have to admit wasn't that often. It just didn't feel right being in here without you and especially not when the first night I walked in here Stone was here, sitting at the bar in your seat. I swore he had found out about here and the chair just to piss us off."

Rafael put his hand on Liv's leg under the table. "Liv, this is just a really nice quiet bar close to the courthouse to get some work done. I'm sure this place was recommended to him by the staff at the courthouse. Either that or he wanted to bump into you outside of the precinct so that he could make his move," Rafael said in jest and laughed when Olivia nudged his shoulder with her own.

"Oh, I see that you've brought your jokes tonight. Well, if that was his plan it really didn't work. I had Carisi with me and I seriously think that he got more upset about it than me that Stone was sitting in your chair."

Rafael laughed softly. "Carisi is very loyal I will not deny that, but I was thinking he would be the same with Stone as he was with me since he enjoys the law side of the cases so much. Seems they can also hear us," he said with a laugh. He them gestured towards the door as Fin, Carisi and Rollins all entered together.

Rollins led the two men to the booth that Olivia and Rafael were sitting in and she slid in first across from them. "Sorry, we're late. Carisi seriously takes longer than all of us put together to get ready."

Carisi complained, sliding into the booth beside Rollins. "Hey, that is not true, Amanda! I told you both that my mother came around and it took me ages to convince her that I had actually made plans that weren't exactly work related."

Fin shook his head, laughing. "Next time you two can make your own way here. I ain't waiting around for you again, Carisi... Can I get you two another drink?"

He shook his head. "Thanks, Fin, but we literally just got these, and sit. Anthony has a drink ready for you guys. I was thinking that you were late due to Carisi so knew that you could do with a drink as soon as you arrived," Rafael quipped.

Rollins raised an eyebrow.

"And yes, Rollins," he said, "I did get you a virgin." He had ordered a cranberry, lime, soda for Rollins as she wasn't really in a position to drink.

Fin laughed sitting down beside Carisi. "I see you haven't forgotten then who we are, Barba!"

He laughed as Anthony arrived with the drinks for Fin, Carisi and Rollins.

Rafael looked at the team and realized that someone was missing and he looked at Olivia. "Is Melinda not joining us tonight?"

Olivia was sipping her wine and then checked the time. "The last I was talking to her this afternoon she was joining us. Fin have you heard from her?"

Fin took a drink of his beer before answering. "Yeah, she's running late, but said she will be here. She doesn't want to miss out on the chance of seeing any of us - or all of us - drunk."

Olivia shook her head laughing. "You know that the last time we went out that Melinda was the first to get drunk."

Rollins laughed. "Oh, I remember that girls' night out, just about... So yeah I can see why she might be waiting to come out a little later. She wants to make sure she's not the first to get drunk tonight."

He raised his eyebrow, looking at Olivia and Rollins. "I feel like this is a story that we need to hear about, or am I the only one that doesn't know about your girls' night out?"

Carisi relaxed into his seat more. "You were at some summit. Anyways, we weren't given any details, we just know that they all showed up to work the next day looking like erm... they hadn't slept in a few days."

Fin laughed. "You mean that they showed up looking rough and hungover"

Olivia pulled a face at that. "We were not that bad, Fin. We just didn't get a lot of sleep."

Fin laughed. "Oh, you did look that bad. You're forgetting you both hid when Dodds showed up for that meeting and you left me and Carisi to deal with it. You know I hate dealing with all the red tape, so trust me I wasn't going to forget that day."

Rollins looked at them both. "You two make it sound like you have never had hangovers. We were entitled to our girls' night out and we were talking about the men in our lives that were being a pain in our asses. So, things got a little carried away. As such, technically you men are to blame for our getting drunk."

When Rollins mentioned that they were blaming the men in their lives Rafael tensed up a little as he thought that she was talking about when Olivia was with Tucker and as stupid as it was he really didn't like to think of Liv of being with anyone else - especially Tucker. Liv could feel Rafael tense up beside her and she took his free hand under the table squeezing his hand gently.

Carisi looked at Rollins. "How can you blame us? Barba was out of town for a conference, Fin and I were at work, Liv and Melinda weren't dating anyone then, and we still haven't even met the guy that you've been dating... So, I think that means that we really aren't to blame. You just want to blame us because of the shape you guys were in the next day."

Rafael smiled, caressing Olivia's hand, and relaxed hearing Carisi. "Rollins, how are things going with mystery man? And, if Fin and Carisi still haven't met him yet, does that mean that they at least know his name so that they could run a background check on the guy?"

Olivia laughed hearing Rafael as it was actually true. Carisi and Fin had become protective of Rollins the same way that Fin protected Liv. Fin leaned back in his chair looking at Rafael. "Hey, man, we just like to look out for each other. We're like family. You know Amanda and Liv would do the same if Carisi or I had anyone."

Rafael raised his eyebrow looking at Liv. "Wait... You run background checks on any girls that date Fin or Carisi?"

Olivia nodded. "As Fin said, we are family. We have to make sure that everyone is protected at all times. I mean, I guess our jobs make us all be extra careful when it comes to people we date."

Rollins looked at Rafael. "Don't worry, Barba. When you finally bring someone into the group to meet us we will do a background check on her. You're still part of the team, so you better make sure that she can handle us all."

"Dios mío," he said, shaking his head slightly.

Carisi looked at Rollins. "How do you know that Barba didn't meet someone when he was away? Wherever he has been, I'm sure that there have been women around."

Rollins looked at Carisi shaking her head. "Sonny, if he had of met someone that meant something to him he would have brought her here with him." She did have a point.

He cleared his throat. "You two do realize that I am sitting right here and that I can hear you both, right?"

Fin looked at him. "These two have never been great at being subtle, so instead of just coming out and asking you they'll just talk like you're not here so that you'll tell them without them asking."

Now it was Olivia's turn to tense up and feel uncomfortable. She knew she had no right to feel jealous if Rafael had been with other women while he was away as they weren't together. He was a single man. But, they hadn't discussed it before now so she had no idea if he had been with anyone when he was away. She guessed there wasn't anyone waiting on him in Miami since they had taken the next step in their relationship, but still...

Rafael kept caressing Olivia's hand gently and he took their intertwined fingers over to rest on his thigh. When he felt Olivia try to pull her hand away from his he wouldn't let her as he knew where her head was going.

Rafael looked at Rollins and Carisi. "So, since you two apparently won't ask the answer is yes. Of course, there were women around Miami. There are women everywhere, but no I did not meet anyone while I was away nor was I with anyone. I went away to clear my head and to spend time on me, not to find someone. I had Rita and my mother checking in on me. That was more than enough women telling me what to do." He said the last bit with a playful lilt to it as he wanted Olivia to relax some.

Carisi looked at Rafael. "Rita Calhoun? Wait, Barba, are you telling us that there was or is something between you and Calhoun?"

Rafael had been taken a drink of his scotch when he heard Carisi's question and it made the drink go down the wrong way making him cough a little. He cleared his throat and looked around the table. "Do you guys seriously think that there was or is something between me and Rita?"

Rollins looked at Rafael. "In Sonny's defence, you two do seem very familiar with each other. She's also the only defence attorney that calls you by your first name without you telling them not to."

He shook his head laughing. "Dear God, no. There is nothing going on with me and Rita; not romantically anyway. Rita is one of my best friends. We were at school together. We were in the same classes together. We stayed really good friends after graduation. Yes, she knows Mami and has met her, and they talk without me, but Rita is and has been like a sister to me."

Olivia was trying not to laugh looking at Rollins and Carisi as she knew the story about Rita and Rafael and why they were so close. Fin then looked at Olivia. "So, that's why Calhoun was around the precinct more, when Barba was away. She had been in contact with Barba."

Rafael finished his drink and looked at Olivia. "So, she wasn't joking when she was telling me about how often she was seeing you guys? I thought it just meant that she was going out of her way to take on cases against SVU."

Olivia shook her head laughing. "No, she would call in every now and then to see if I wanted to join her for lunch. She said she would give me your temporary new address if I wanted to get the guys to deal with it for me," she deadpanned.

Rollins leaned her elbows on the table. "So, you told Calhoun your address and not Liv? I mean, come on, Barba! That's not fair."

He knew this was the team now asking questions but that they were trying to keep it light as they didn't want anyone to get up and walk away. Anthony brought them another round of drinks and after Rafael took a sip of his scotch he looked at Rollins. "I didn't tell Rita my address. I was staying on her yacht, so she already knew where I was. As for not telling, Liv... I did give her and Noah an address that they could send me letters to if they wished, and Olivia also knew that I was on Rita's yacht."

Fin looked at him. "Rita has a yacht? We should have been more friendly to her so that we could get permission to use the yacht like you, Barba."

He chuckled. "Well, the yacht is actually her ex-husband's. He loved that thing more than anything and Rita won it in the divorce in court, and she changed the whole inside and the name and now makes sure he sees the pictures of her enjoying the yacht."

Carisi made a painful noise. "So, you're telling us to never piss off a lawyer if we are dating one or get married to one?"

Rollins laughed softly, looking at Carisi. "Maybe don't tell potential girlfriends that you passed the Bar, Sonny. It might make them run away."

Rollins then turned her attention back to Rafael. "So, you have been sitting enjoying yourself this whole time on Rita's yacht?"

Olivia squeezed his hand gently as a show of support. "No, I wasn't enjoying it, to begin with, and I wasn't always there. The first few days I don't remember much as I just spent my time on the yacht drinking. Then, when I pulled myself together, I did a little travelling and did some charity law work. I was just starting to relax and enjoy Miami when I got Noah's letter to come home."

Fin was drinking his beer while listening to Rafael, but he had one question that he couldn't keep in any longer because he wanted to protect the one person that was like a sister to him. "So, Barba, is this just a quick visit and you'll be leaving us again soon to head back to the sunny beaches of Miami or are you going to be sticking around?"

Rafael knew why Fin was asking the question. Olivia had warned him at the beginning that Fin was angry at Rafa for just leaving Olivia in his mind just like Elliot Stabler had. Rafael was glad that Olivia had someone looking after her so much when he wasn't there. "I am back for good. New York is my home; it's where my family is." He squeezed Olivia's hand gently. "I was planning on going back to Miami to gather my things but then I realized that there are companies out there that do that. So, no, I won't be leaving New York any time soon unless it's for a vacation."

Carisi jumped straight in before anyone else could get a word in. "So, where are you staying now that your back in New York? Or are you staying in the Bronx with your mother?" Rafael was trying not to smile when Carisi asked him that as the last two nights he had actually stayed in Olivia's apartment.

In way of explanation, he simply said, "I stayed with my mother the first night, but I still have my apartment so I have been there ever since."

Fin playfully whistled. "Damn, man! We're definitely in the wrong job if you could afford to keep that apartment while away in Miami without renting it out."

Rafael chuckled. "Well, that place has been home so I wasn't ready to let go until I decided what my next step was. Also, most of what pays for that apartment is what I earned before I became an ADA. Word to the wise, Carisi... The private sector pays much better."

The blond man gave him a funny look. "Duley noted."

"How are Cragen and Munch doing?" he asked. It had been such a long time since he'd talked to either man.

"They're doing well," Fin said.

"Cragen babysat Noah not too long ago," Olivia said. "Not for the first time. And I have Munch to thank for Noah's 'why' phase." Everyone laughed at that, even Rafael. "They're both doing well, although I think Don's plotting John's demise."

His curiosity was genuinely piqued now. "Why?"

"Prank war gone bad," Olivia said with a laugh. "John's latest prank was a good one. I'll leave it at that."

"I am so getting that story sometime," he said with a laugh. "Given Munch's sense of humour -"

"Oh, it went exactly how you think it did," Olivia said, cheekily. "Don hasn't felt so creeped out in years."

He shook his head, amused. "And Amaro?"

"He's happy," Rollins said. "Nick really likes it down there."

"His kids are so big now," Olivia said. "Zara looks so much like her mother."

"And the son?" he asked, unable to remember the boy's name.

"Gil's happy too," Liv said. "Getting away from the gang problems he'd had in his old neighbourhood's been good for him."

"I'm glad."

"Me too," Olivia said, beaming.

Rollins looked at Rafael. "So, since you mentioned your next step earlier, what are you planning on doing now for work? I mean we are all behind you if you want to take Stone's job off him."

Rafael looked at the team. "I haven't actually decided yet what I'm going to do for work. I hadn't thought about that. When Noah asked me to come back I didn't know how long I was staying but now that I'm here for good I guess I do need to start thinking about what I'm going to do for a job... Maybe I'll take Rita up on her job offer from the day I left. It means I would get to go up against Stone in the courtroom," he said with a smirk.

Olivia slapped his arm playfully, glaring at him, making the other three try not to laugh. "That is so not funny, Rafa. You do realize that going against Stone in court would actually mean going up against us and letting a rapist go free? I thought we changed you?" she challenged Rafael playfully.

"I need to start earning a living so that I can pay for my apartment and suits." Rafael tried to keep a straight face but he finally gave in laughing softly. "Okay, so there is no hope in hell that I would work with Rita against you guys. Not after six years as your ADA. That changes how you practice the law."

The team continued to talk about some of the cases that they worked on together when Rafael first started and that they really didn't know what to make of his cockiness when he started, but Fin said he liked the fact that the counsellor was a no messing kind of lawyer but still knew how to win a case. Rafael had gotten out of the booth to let Liv out to go to the restroom with Rollins. When they came back Rafael had slid into the booth against the wall and Olivia slide in beside him, and she moved closer to him when Melinda joined them and sat down beside her.

The team didn't make any comment about how close Olivia was sitting to Rafael as she was basically leaning against him, to them this really wasn't anything new as they knew the pair were close. The men excused themselves from the booth as they headed to the bar to get another drink and the bar had started to get busier so they had to go up to order. This left Rollins, Olivia and Melinda sitting in the booth watching them.

Olivia had asked Rollins something but there was no reply from the detective as she staring and now glaring at something behind Liv's and Melinda's back. Olivia waved her hand in front of Rollins' face. "Amanda, you still with us?"

Rollins cleared her throat and looked at Olivia. "Yeah, sorry, Liv. I was just, eh... slightly distracted by something at the bar." Rollins didn't know about Olivia and Rafael being together but she knew how close they were and she had no idea how Olivia would feel seeing a man, and yes it was a man, as he was much younger than Rafael, flirting with him shamelessly at the bar.

Olivia looked at Rollins and followed her stare and turned around to look at the bar. That was when she saw Fin and Carisi standing laughing with two attractive brunette females while a blond man was clearing flirting with Rafael.

Rafael clearly was waving the man off, slightly uncomfortable, but Olivia didn't notice that.

Melinda turned around. "I see Barba didn't waste any time on getting his feet back in New York."

Olivia couldn't say anything. She couldn't trust her words right now. She actually felt a little sick in her stomach watching the man lay his hand on Rafael's arm. She had never felt jealous about any of her previous partners but with Rafael it was different; there was so much more to lose. Olivia turned around and quickly drank her glass of wine and tried not to let it affect her.

Melinda and Rollins, however, couldn't take their eyes off the situation and Rollins was giving them basically a running commentary. "Well, I think that we might have lost Sonny for the rest of the night. Fin doesn't look too interested in the one talking to him, and Barba -"

Olivia closed her eyes when she heard Rafael's name and she's was waiting for Rollins to continue when instead she heard Rafael's voice. "And Barba what?" he asked as he slid down into the seat beside Olivia giving the ladies their drinks as he sipped his own.

Rollins looked at Rafael. "Oh, I was just telling Liv and Melinda about you, Sonny and Fin having some fun at the bar with all that attention ya'll were getting."

Rafael looked at Olivia and she hadn't looked at him since he had sat down and he didn't know why but now hearing Rollins' words it all made sense. "Well, Carisi, yes, he seems to be having fun. Fin isn't really that interested but said that he would stay to chat with her until Carisi was ready to either ask for a number or make a move. As for me, well, yes, you did see him putting his hand on my arm, which I removed straight away. One, that man is half my age and two, I had absolutely no interest in him."

"Not your type or not your type?" Melinda asked, having noticed something off about the interaction she witnessed. She knew Rafael had been uncomfortable and suspected it was not for the reasons one might assume at first glance.

He gulped. The only people he'd ever really told were Rita, Eddie, his family, and Olivia. He'd never even told Alex or Yelina, as he knew their views. When he'd told Liv, however, she just looked at him, chuckled slightly, and said she wasn't necessarily surprised. Just look at the way he dressed. Apparently, the gulp was all the answer Melinda needed.

"Ah," Melinda said.

He took a deep breath. "I'm... well, I'm actually bisexual."

"I'd wondered," Rollins said. "Cool."

Melinda then gave him a soft smile. "Thanks for trusting us enough to say so, Barba."

"Yeah." He appreciated the sentiment, so gave her a small smile. Growing up Catholic, it had taken him a lot of time to truly come to terms with his sexuality. His mother wasn't behind it completely but had come to accept it, nonetheless. Thankfully.

Still, he kept it mostly to himself, family, and the occasional one night stand. He was most definitely not out in the D.A's Office and preferred to keep it that way. He'd had too many cases over the years where if people had known about his sexuality defence would have been able to call him on a bias or vendetta. Not that he ever let that influence his decisions in court, but then, the defence attorneys wouldn't really care. There were also a lot of traditionalists in the D.A's Office who weren't necessarily fans of members of the LGTBQ community. And victims as well.

Before Rollins could say anything else Melinda grabbed her by the arm gently and towards the small dance floor that there was.. When they left Rafael turned his body to face Liv a little more. "Liv, is that why you haven't looked at me since I sat down? Because of what Rollins was saying?"

Olivia finally lifted her head and looked at Rafael, and he realized when he looked in her eyes that she had been close to tears and at that moment he was so angry at every guy that had ever hurt her or mistreated her in any way. Olivia kept her eyes on Rafael. "I know it's stupid because we haven't actually said to each other that we wouldn't see anyone else, and I don't normally get jealous in relationships, but with you, Rafa, it's different."

Rafael moved closer to Olivia and he took her hand in his. "Liv, we may not have said the words to each other out loud, but that's because we both know that the other meant exclusivity. If that wasn't clear because I didn't say it out loud, then I'm sorry. But you, Liv, are the only one that I am interested in. I don't have eyes for anyone else, and if you want me, I'm completely all yours."

She smiled softly at Rafael's words. "I want to be with you and no one else, Rafa. I guess we should have said that when we talked about us. You must think I'm childish for getting jealous."

He shook his head. "Of course, I don't, Liv. Are you forgetting how badly I reacted to you being with other men? But I can promise you that you have nothing to be jealous of."

Rafael checked to make sure they weren't seen by the team and he kissed Liv's forehead briefly to make sure they weren't caught. Olivia squeezed his hand gently. "Take me home, Rafa."

He was a little confused as he thought she was still upset about the man flirting with him but then he looked at her and she smiled softly. "To your apartment, I mean. I don't want to not be able to touch you and kiss you any longer. We've spent enough time with our friends."

Rafael didn't have to be told twice and he left a note on the table for the others to say he and Olivia had headed out. He knew they wouldn't think anything of it other than Rafael wanting to make sure Olivia got home safely. While Rafael was writing the note, Olivia took his phone and ordered them an Uber. They stood up and Liv smiled looking at her team who were completely relaxed and having fun and that made her happy as they had totally deserved this carefree night.

When they got outside Rafael took Olivia's hand in his intertwining their fingers as they walked to the corner to wait for the Uber. "So, did you have fun tonight, Liv?"

Olivia smiled, laying her head against his shoulder as no one was around, and she squeezed his hand gently. "It was so nice to see everyone so relaxed and happy. They totally deserve it after the last few cases we've worked. Thank you for coming out with us, though. I'm glad you got to see that you are still part of the team."

Rafael smiled, kissing Olivia's head, keeping her close. "Thank you for asking me to join you guys. It's been a while from I've enjoyed a night out like that. And it was really nice to see you so relaxed and just enjoying yourself; forgetting about everything for a few hours. Their Uber pulled up and Rafael held open the door letting his girlfriend slide in first. He slid in after her, giving the driver address as they made their way towards his apartment.


	14. Chapter 14

Olivia was quiet during the ride to Rafael's apartment. Part of her felt a little nervous, but the biggest part of her felt ready for them to take the next step in their relationship. She lay with her head on Rafael's shoulder the whole way to his apartment, just enjoying being close to him.

Rafael got out of the Uber first and he held his hand out to help Olivia out of the car and he intertwined their fingers as he led the brunette inside his apartment building. Olivia squeezed his hand gently as she looked around the building, thanking the doorman when he let them in. "You know, I can't believe that this is my first time at your apartment, after six years of knowing each other."

Rafael hit the button on the elevator and as they waited for it he kissed Olivia on the head. "Well, it was just always easier to spend time at your apartment as that was where Noah was, and before you had Noah, you had Cassidy, so we didn't spend a lot of time together."

Olivia smiled as she followed Rafael into the elevator. He wrapped his arms around her as she leaned her back against his chest. He lay his chin gently on her shoulder as he knew there wasn't anyone that would pay attention to them in his building. Olivia turned her head, kissing his temple and cheek. "So, did we really go to my apartment because of Noah, or was it really because you didn't want to let a baby and then toddler lose in your apartment?" she smirked, teasing him playfully

He laughed softly and he caught Olivia's lips in a sweet kiss. "If it made you happy I would have let Noah wreck my apartment anytime he wanted. But since it was always late when we were at yours, it was much easier to be there so that Noah could sleep in his own bed."

Olivia smiled as she listened to her new partner talk about Noah. She was mentally kicking herself, how had she taken so long to notice that Rafael cared so much about her but he also really cared about her son. "So, you're ready to let him loose on your apartment?"

Rafael stepped forward keeping his arms around Olivia's waist as he led her to his apartment door. "You and Noah are always welcome here, and if he wants to wreck my apartment then he can. It's just things in here, Liv. Seeing you and Noah happy is way more important than anything I own."

Upon hearing him, Olivia turned around in Rafael's arms and she kissed him with so much intensity that it almost took his breath away. He was thankful that they were at his apartment door as he leaned her against his door as he kissed her back just as intensely running his hands down her sides slowly pressing his body against hers.

They were broke out of their own world when they could hear an elderly woman's voice. "Good evening, Rafael. It's good to see you back in town," the elderly lady smiled at the couple and kept on walking.

Rafael chuckled softly as Olivia hid her face in his neck. "Thank you, Susan. It's good to be back." He kissed Olivia's cheek. "You can stop hiding, Liv. She's gone." He laughed as he took out his key and opened his door, holding it open, to let Olivia walk in first.

Olivia shook her head. "I can't believe we just got caught making out like teenagers."

She thanked him for holding the door open for her as she walked inside. She slid off her jacket and handed it to Rafael as she looked around his apartment. It was close to how she expected it. He had a large leather, comfy looking, couch that sat in front of an electric fire with a TV on the wall above the first place. The kitchen was attached to the living area with a dining area separating them. She could see closed doors down the long hallway that she assumed were his bathroom and bedroom.

Rafael had gone to the kitchen, giving Olivia minute to look around his apartment, and he poured them both a small glass of wine. After a moment, he came walking back over to Liv as he handed her a glass of wine. "So, does my apartment meet your standards, Lieutenant?" he said in jest as Olivia thanked him for the wine.

"You know that Noah would have so much fun running around all this open space. You've been holding out on us Rafa, but it really is a beautiful apartment." She smiled genuinely as she spotted photos hanging on his wall and she couldn't resist walking over to look at them. They were mostly pictures of Rafael with his grandmother, his mother, and a man that she assumed was his grandfather as he looked happy with him. But what caught Olivia off guard was the photo of her and Rafael and also one of both him and Noah. "You have a photo of me and Noah up here?"

Rafael was already standing beside Olivia when she finally spoke. She just hadn't heard him make his way towards her as she was too busy checking out the photos on his wall. "You sound surprised? It's like you said at Noah's adoption party; we're family, Liv. And this -" He gestured to the wall. "- this wall has the family that I love on it. So, you and Noah belong up there too." Rafael smiled as he leaned down, kissing Olivia softly and sweetly.

She pointed to the picture of him with the man "Is this your grandfather? You look so much like him?"

Rafael had an honest smile on his face looking at that picture. "Yeah, that's mi abuelo. He died before I went off to college. He's the reason I wear suspenders and he taught me basically everything I know on how to be a man. He was a good man. He and mi abuela had a love that I always dreamed of. They were both so good to me. I don't know what I would have done had they not lived so close to us."

Olivia smiled as she listened to Rafael. She wanted to let him talk as it was the first time that he had really talked about his family in any length. She ran her hand along his arm. "I wish he were still alive so that I could thank him then for the suspenders," she said. "But, he would be so proud of you, Rafa. They both would. I'm really sorry that I never got to meet your abuela before she passed away."

Rafael wrapped his arm around Olivia's shoulders holding her close to him. "I always knew you had a thing for my suspenders. So, thank you Abuelo for that." He touched the picture, grinning mischievously at Olivia. "She knew about you. Apparently, I talked to her just as much as I did to Mami about you. You know, when I told her that you drive me crazy, she told me that I would realize one day that I was in love with you and that you were the one for me. I forgot that at times she really knew me better than I knew myself."

Olivia was shocked by his words. "She really knew that by just talking to you about me that we would end up together? It seems we were clueless while those who cared about us the most could see it straight away. And, did you tell everyone that you know that I drove you crazy?"

Rafael laughed kissing her temple. "It's a good thing, Liv. Trust me. It meant you were challenging me and it had been a while since I had someone do that to me." He took her hand and lead her over to the couch and he gently pulled her down beside him and she snuggled in tight to him as she set her wine down and she rested her hand on his stomach. "Rita wanted to stop us working together after going up against us for the first time. She said I had gotten my flare back for the courtroom, and that was all because you were challenging me, and pushing me further than I had by anyone else in my career."

Olivia smiled as she was playing with the buttons his shirt listening to him as she was really enjoying hearing him open up to her like this. "Well, you are the best ADA SVU has ever had, and I'm not just saying that. You took cases on for us that no one else would have dreamed of touching. You fought so hard for our victims and you really did become one of the team."

Rafael smiled running his fingers through Olivia's hair as he listened to her speaking. "You know that some of the cases I only took because it was you asking me. Well, I think kinda pushing me would be the better way of putting it."

Olivia chuckled softly and she tilted her head to look Rafa in the eyes. "Well, you showed that you were an ADA with a good heart with the cases that you took on for us. And I don't know what Amanda told you when she went through what happened with her old boss, that's between you and her, but I do know that she had a whole new respect for you after that."

Rafael smiled, caressing Olivia's cheek gently. "I meant it when I said it outside the courthouse that you changed my world and me, Liv. The law was black and white to me until you came in to my life and made me realize it wasn't always that simple in cases."

Olivia ran her hand along Rafa's arm, taking his hand and intertwining their fingers. "You don't regret that I have changed the way you look at the law? As you said, it was what pushed you to get out of the Bronx. You worked so hard to get to where you are today. I don't want to be the one that ruined the way you look at something you love."

Rafael lay his finger under Olivia's chin, titling her head to make her look him in the eye. "Liv, I could never regret anything with you. You made me a better lawyer and a better man, so how could I ever regret that? And we worked pretty damn well together, getting wins that seemed impossible at times. You haven't ruined my love for the law. You've made me look at in a different way, but that's a good thing because it pushed me to challenge things I would never have dreamed of doing. And while doing all that you managed to make me want a life outside of work and in my life that is not an easy thing to do."

Olivia smiled as she leaned into him, kissing Rafael slowly and softly. "Well, don't give up on the law. The system still needs you, Rafa. The victims out there need someone like you fighting their corner in a courtroom... And I'm just glad that I'm the one that you have decided to spend your time with outside of work."

Rafael kissed Olivia again but with more love this time. "There was never anyone else came even close to that in the last six years," he whispered against her lips. Olivia gently pushed him back against the couch as she straddled him catching him off guard, but she didn't give him a chance to answer as she leaned down kissing him with more want and need this time. Olivia bit his lip gently while scratching his neck with her nails at the same time drawing a moan from Rafael's mouth in to her's. She could feel his erection pressing against her through his trousers and she moved teasingly against him and he gripped her tight groaning and he broke the kiss for air.

Rafael lay his head back on the couch. He looked in to Olivia's eyes and seeing how dark and heavy with desire his eyes were almost took her breath away. She had never had anyone look at her the way he was looking at her right now.

He ran his hands along her thighs. "Liv, are you sure about this?"

Olivia ran her fingers through Rafael's hair slowly. "I'm sure, Rafa. Make love to me," she whispered, not breaking eye contact with him for even a second.


	15. Chapter 15

Olivia was the first to wake up the next morning. She had heard a noise in the apartment and thought that Rafael was awake, but she felt his arms still wrapped tight around her. She tapped his arm squeezing his hand gently. "Rafa..."

Rafael had slept the best he had in a very long time. He was woken by Liv's voice and he held her a little tighter. "Hmmm, just a few more minutes, Cariño."

Olivia would have chuckled at how much like Noah he sounded right now, except there was now someone talking in Rafael's apartment. It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen.

"Rafa, you need to get up now. There's someone in your kitchen. Were you expecting someone?" Olivia turned around in Rafael's arms and she couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. Rafael looked so relaxed, his hair was messy as he hadn't had the chance to fix it, and, at that moment, she realized that she could get very used to seeing him like this.

Rafael opened his eyes, the words actually registering. "Are you sure you can hear someone?" And just as Rafael had said that there was now singing coming from his kitchen. He closed his eyes. "Shit."

Olivia raised her eyebrow, hearing him, and hearing that it was a female voice. "You forgot that you had another woman coming in to visit you today?"

Rafael looked at Olivia. "Yes, I completely forgot that I had told her that we would have breakfast here this morning. I'm so sorry, Liv."

Olivia's heart sank when he said that he had agreed to meet another woman. Was everything he had said to her last night just to get her into his bed? She couldn't believe that he was being so calm about this while her heart was breaking. She tried to move out of his arms to leave but Rafael stopped her.

Rafael watched Olivia and sW the reaction on her face. He then shook his head, rubbing his face. "Wait, that came out wrong, Liv, and yes it sounded wrong, but when I said yes, that I had agreed to meet another woman for breakfast, I meant my mother." Rafael brushed Olivia's hair from her face gently. "Liv, last night wasn't just a one-night thing for me and I will keep doing whatever it takes to show you that I am in this for the long haul." He leaned down and pressed his lips softly against Olivia's. "If you want I can try to get Mami to leave and tell her that I'll meet her later for dinner?" Rafael didn't want to force Olivia into this situation with his mother as it was going to be obvious to her that Olivia spent the night.

Hearing it was his mother, part of Olivia wanted to climb out his window and run. She didn't care how many floors up they were. But then she heard his words and realized that he was willing to postpone the time with his mother just for her. And taking the plunge, she made a decision that shocked her and that she knew would also shock Rafael.

"If you're okay and ready for this then I am okay with joining you and your mother for breakfast. If you're sure that neither of you will mind?" Olivia bit her a lip a little nervous as she wasn't sure if Rafael was ready for his mother to know about them as he hadn't even been back a week yet.

Rafael was getting ready to tell Liv not to worry, that he would get his mother to leave, when he heard her speak. He froze, not quiet believing what he was hearing.

"Liv, trust me. My mother would love you to join us for breakfast, but are you sure you are ready for that? Because when my mother finds out she's going to go into full Cuban mother mode."

Olivia laughed softly upon hearing Rafael. "I'm sure, Rafa. I know we said that we weren't going to tell anyone yet, but your mom knowing is different, she was good to me and Noah when you were away so I don't want to hide this from her."

Rafael kissed Olivia slowly but with so much love. "We really do need to get up before my mother bursts in here to what she thinks will be to waken me after drinking too much scotch last night" He laughed softly before reluctantly sliding out of his bed, he slid on his boxers and grabbed a t-shirt along with jeans.

Olivia smiled just watching him for a minute really enjoying getting to see him like this and to see how comfortable they both were with each other and that things weren't awkward after last night. "Since your mother is already going to know I've spent the night, can I borrow a shirt and some shorts? I don't really want her to see me in the same clothes from last night." Olivia couldn't explain why she felt nervous asking him as she knew he wouldn't mind.

Rafael smiled at Olivia. "You're just determined to make it impossible for me to keep my hands to myself and want to be cruel in front of my mother, aren't you?" He then went to his wardrobe and grabbed a clean shirt and a pair of his shorts from the gym and he came back over to the bed setting them on the bed for her. "Take your time, Liv. I'm going to go on ahead out to my mother to give her warning so that she doesn't squeal and scare you off before you get a chance to eat."

Olivia laughed, thanking Rafael for the clothes, and she leaned up pressing her lips to Rafael's. "She won't scare me off. I've put up with you for six years, so I'm sure I'll be okay," she said, smirking playfully.

Rafael raised his eyebrow. "You are lucky that I love you so much, Cariño," he teased playfully. He kissed Olivia once more before he stood up straight and headed into the kitchen.

Olivia could hear his mother. Even though the bedroom door was closed, the voice travelled with little issue. "Mijo, estaba a punto de venir a despertarte." (Mijo, I was about to come to wake you up.)


	16. Chapter 16

Rafael smiled softly when he layed his eyes on his mother, but was clearly apologetic when he spoke. "Hola, Mami. I was enjoying a nice relaxing morning in bed. Olvidé que habíamos planeado desayunar aquí esta mañana. Disculpa." (Hi, Mami. I forgot that we'd planned to have breakfast here this morning. I'm sorry.)

Lucía Barba was busy cooking in the kitchen, yes, but she was never too busy to tease her son. "Oh, enserio? Did you have a lady friend that distracted you enough to forget about breakfast with your own mother?" (Oh, really?)

His mother was joking as she had accepted a long time ago that her son was married to his job. She wanted him to find someone to love and that would love him and maybe one day give her grandkids. Now that he had taken a break from his career she was starting to get her hopes up that maybe now he would find himself someone special.

Rafael sat down at his breakfast bar and thanked his mother for the coffee that appeared before him the minute he sat down "Actually, Mami, tienes razón. I did have company last night and she's still here. She is going to be joining us for breakfast, so, por favor, don't go over the top and scare her off." (Mami, you're right.)

Lucía turned around to look at her son. "You know that it's not nice to lie to your madre. ¿Has olvidado eso?" She looked at her son sternly. (Have you forgotten that?)

Rafael shook his head, laughing as he did so. "Mami, I am not lying to you. Créeme, I know better than to do that no matter what age I am. I want you both to join me for breakfast this morning and I'm hoping it will be happening more often."

Lucía stood opposite her son. "You haven't even been back in New York a week, Rafi, and you already want me to meet her? You don't just introduce anyone to me, so does this mean that you knew her before you took time away?"

Olivia came out of his bedroom, but she stopped when she heard Lucía. She didn't want to listen in on their conversation, but at the same time, she wanted to know if Lucía Barba was really okay with her joining her and her son for breakfast.

He slowly sipped his coffee and looked at his mother intently. "The only person I've introduced you to is Yelina and, well, Rita... but Rita was only ever a friend. But, this is different, Mami. This is it for me. Even if she realizes she can do better than me and leave I won't be bringing anyone else home. Para mí, es ella o nadie más." (For me, it's her or nobody else.)

Lucía watched her son closely. She then leaned on the breakfast bar and laid her hand on top of her son's. "Estoy seguro de que la Teniente Benson siente lo mismo, Rafi." (I'm sure that Lieutenant Benson feels the same way, Rafi.)

He almost choked on his coffee. "¿Cómo adivinaste...? Mami... nunca mencioné a Olivia." (How did you...? Mami... I never even mentioned Olivia.)

The Barba matriarch patted her son's hand and got back to cooking. "Oh, mi niño, no necesitas mencionar su nombre. Tu abuela y yo sabíamos que estabas enamorado del teniente Benson. Simplemente no pensamos que te tomaría tanto tiempo actuar en consecuencia. (Oh, my boy, you didn't have to mention her name. Your grandmother and I both knew that you were in love with Lieutenant Benson. We just didn't think that it would take you this long to act on it.)

Olivia stood shocked in the hall. His grandmother knew? Had she really been so blind for so long? Is that how long he had been in love with her? Her and Noah's life could have been so different by now if she had realized sooner what was right in front of her. Olivia shook her head; she wasn't going to dwell on the past. They had told each other how they felt now and that was all that mattered. She took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, a smile firmly on her lips.

"Good morning, Mrs. Barba," Olivia said, tone light, "I hope you don't mind me joining you and Rafa for breakfast this morning?"

His mother turned around and looked at Olivia, smiling. "Please, call me Lucía, and, of course, I don't mind, Mamita. I'm just glad my son finally told you how he felt." Lucia winked at her son and Rafael groaned playfully.

"Maybe having you two eating together and spending more time together isn't a good thing for me," Rafael deadpanned, frowning playfully. He pulled out the seat beside him for Olivia.

Olivia shook her head laughing as she came and sat down beside Rafael. "Well, if you didn't want it to happen this soon then you should remember when you make plans with your mother."

His mother smiled, watching the two of them together and listening to their banter. "Lieutenant Benson is right, Mijo. If you hadn't forgotten about your plans with me then maybe all three of us wouldn't be having breakfast together this morning."

Olivia chuckled softly at the face that Rafael pulled. She then looked at Lucía. "Please, Lucía, call me Liv. Is there anything that we can do to help you with breakfast?"

Rafael raised his eyebrow as he looked at Olivia. "I don't want any of my breakfast burned, mi amor."

Olivia slapped his arm playfully. "Hey, I am not that bad. I have gotten much better since Noah came into my life."

Seeing her son so happy was making Lucía so calm, relaxed and happy. "Thank you for offering, Liv. It's more than Rafi did." Lucía pointed at her son who apologized. Due to being nervous he had forgotten to offer his help to his mother so he told her he would clean up. "But, breakfast is almost ready and you're a guest so this morning you get to sit back and relax. Rafi can get you some coffee. It's just been made."

Olivia lifted Rafael's cup to her lips and sipped his coffee. Rafael looked at her. "Hey! That was my coffee."

Olivia laughed. "Well, you haven't gotten me mine yet and I needed some coffee. But I have no idea how you drink your coffee like that, Rafa."

He shook his head, chuckling softly, and he pressed his lips quickly to Olivia's. "Don't worry, I can make you coffee just the way you like it." He stood, making his way over to the coffee maker. He got the coffee ready for Olivia exactly how she liked it and, returning to where they were seated, he sat the cup down in front of her. "This, to you, will taste much nicer than stealing mine," he quipped, stealing his drink back.

Lucía chuckled softly as she watched them. "Well, now that the coffee dilemma has been sorted out, you can get the table ready, Rafi. I'm ready to serve up breakfast."

Olivia was trying not to laugh at the way that Rafa obeyed every word his mother said as she actually really admired that about him. He really was willing to do whatever he could to make his mother happy.

Rafael set the table for the three of them and he smiled at Olivia. "You can come and join me, Liv. My mother won't let you help even carry the plates, not when you're a guest."

Lucía smiled hearing at her son. She turned around, holding the plates, and she looked at Olivia. "Rafi is right, Olivia, and if he ever makes you help out with cooking when you're here then remind him he was raised better than that."

Olivia laughed softly and came over sitting down on the chair that Rafa had pulled out for her, she was sitting to the side of the table with Lucía at the top of the table and Rafa sat directly across from Olivia.

Olivia smiled at Lucía. "Well, so far he's been nothing but a gentleman in the six years that I've known him, even in the courtroom. He can win a case and still not lose who he is as a person."

Rafael reached over taking Olivia's hand squeezing it gently as her words meant the world to him. Her opinion these days was the most important one to him.

His mother smiled, setting the omelettes she had made down in front of Rafael and Olivia, and then brought her own over to the table. "So, just how much did you hate my son the first day that you met him?"

He pulled a face. "Mami, por favor."

Olivia laughed. "I didn't hate him. None of us did. Amanda and I were the first to meet him, and yes, Rafael Barba, I remember the first thing you ever said to us."

Rafael groaned playfully. "Can I go eat my breakfast somewhere else if this is what the conversation is going to be?" All that was missing from his expression was the childish pout that Noah used on his mother.

His mother patted his cheek gently. "You'll stay right there, Rafael Antonio. I've only ever heard your side of this story -" She eyed him. "- And most men would enjoy having two of their favourite women joining them for breakfast."

Rafael looked at Olivia and nodded for her to continue. Only because he knew that no matter what he said or did they were always going to have this conversation. At least if he was here for it he could try and control some of it.

Olivia chuckled. "So.. as I was saying... We didn't hate him. We had heard about him. His reputation was well known in Hogan place and among our detectives. When I met him I was more curious if he could match the words that he was so confidently throwing out at us. We wanted to see if he was just a cocky ADA that couldn't live up to his words, but by the end of that first case, we knew that when it came to Rafael he really didn't say things that he didn't mean."

He smiled genuinely, hearing Olivia talk about their first meeting like that, as he was like his mother and thought that she had hated him the first day they met.

His mother grinned too. "Rafi's mouth was always his most powerful and dangerous weapon. You can imagine how much trouble he would have gotten himself into growing up in the Bronx but thankfully he had Eddie there to protect him."

Rafael froze while eating hoping that his mother wasn't going to bring up how much she liked Alex and that she was, at first, angry at Rafael for taking the case against him and ruining his political career.

His mother took a minute to take a bite of her food and then looked at Olivia. "You know, it's a real shame that you didn't get to meet my mother."

He closed his eyes briefly as he really did miss Abeuilta every single day and he didn't know why his mother was bringing her up.

Olivia reached across the table and lay her hand gently on his to comfort him and to support him as she knew he blamed himself for a long time after his grandmother died. Olivia looked at his mother. "I would have loved to be able to meet her. Rafa told me so much about her. She sounded like a remarkable lady."

His mother smiled hearing Olivia. "You know, the first Sunday that Rafi came home and told her that there was a Detective Benson that was driving him crazy, she just sat smiling at him."

He raised his eyebrow. "Yeah, Mami, why did Abuelita always smile when I talked about Olivia with her?"

Olivia raised her own eyebrow now. "Just how much did you talk about me?"

His mother chuckled. "He talked about you a lot. And Mijo, your abuela smiled because she knew that you would one day realize that you were in love with Olivia. She was so happy when you talked about Olivia because she said that you working with Olivia gave her back her Rafi."

Rafael couldn't believe what he was hearing. He really wished even more now that his abuela was here to meet Olivia.

"But Abuelita wanted me to go on and become a judge? She knew I wasn't going to just climb the ladder anymore now that I was working with SVU. So, I thought she wouldn't have been happy about that?"

Lucía smiled and put her hand on her son's arm. "Oh, Rafi, Mijo, she wanted you to be a judge because she had accepted - like me - that you were married to your job and that you had given up on having a life outside of it. That you weren't even trying to look for someone to share your life with or to have a family with. But then you started to talk about Olivia and then her little boy Noah, and she saw the light go back on behind your eyes and in your heart. You were back to being her sweet Rafi that cared about people and went out of his way to help them."

Rafael turned his hand around, taking Olivia's hand in his, and he entangled their fingers squeezing her hand gently as he looked at Olivia and his mother.

"So, I really was bad at hiding my feelings about Liv? I never knew Abuelita saw the difference that Liv had made in me. I mean, it took me six years and almost ruining my career for me to tell Olivia how she had changed my life and how I saw cases and the law."

Lucía smiled. "Your abuela knew you better than anyone else, and I would have said that was still true until you finally told Olivia how you felt. Now, I believe that she is the one that knows you better than anyone."

Rafael looked at Olivia, lips turned upwards, as that was basically his mother saying that she not only approved of their relationship that she was over the moon that her son had found someone as incredible as Olivia.

Olivia looked at them both with tears in her eyes. "I didn't do anything to Rafa to make him the man he is. It was always inside him. He just had to stop hiding behind his words. After the first few cases we worked together I knew that he was going to be the best ADA my unit would ever have, and he became part of our team and that's what made him care more about the cases. He became one of us. And as for Noah, he loves his_ Uncle Rafa_, who maybe spoils him just a little bit too much," she said, gently teasing him.

He pulled a face. "I do not spoil him too much. I get him what he deserves. What you both deserve. Oh, that reminds me, I have to bring him his presents from Miami. They are here in one of my bags."

His mother - sipping her coffee - leaned back in her chair. "I would love to get to meet Noah. He sounds like an incredible little boy."

Rafael froze as he wasn't sure how Olivia was going to react to this. No one knew about her and Rafael. Then there was the fact that after what happened with Sheila, Olivia was a lot more cautious about who she let into her son's life.

To his surprise, Olivia simply smiled. "I think Noah would love to meet you, Lucía. If you want to let Rafa know when you're free we can arrange to do something together. The four of us."

Rafael couldn't believe what he was hearing from Olivia. He had been convinced that his mother asking that would make her bolt out of his apartment as fast as she could, but she had instead done the opposite.

The rest of the breakfast went passed smoothly much to Rafael's delight, then his mother had to apologize and say goodbye to them an hour later as she had a meeting for her school. Rafael and Olivia walked his mother to the door and Olivia was surprised when Lucia wrapped her up in a hug and whispered to her. "Thank you for bringing my son back to New York."

Olivia was surprised by his mother's words, but the woman didn't give her a chance to say anything in response as she pulled back and swiftly went to kiss her son on the cheek. "Te quiero mucho, Rafi."

Rafael hugged his mother and then he wrapped his arm around Olivia's shoulder and he smiled at his mother. "Yo también te quiero, Mami. Thank you for breakfast and good luck at the meeting. If you need any advice after, you can call me. You know that."

His mother smiled. "I will, Rafi. Olivia, it was really lovely to get to spend some time with you. Next time, I hope we get longer together and I'll bring you some baby photos of Rafael!" his mother said, laughing, as she turned and walked away waving goodbye to them.

Rafael closed his apartment door. "So, you survived the hurricane that is Lucía Barba."

Olivia laughed and slapped him gently on the chest. "She is not that bad, Rafa. I really enjoyed talking to her... I hope you don't mind that I said she could come to do something with you, Noah and me."

Rafael wrapped his arms around Olivia, resting his hands on her lower back. "Mind? Liv, I was so happy that you didn't run out my door the minute that my mother asked to meet Noah, I would have agreed to anything."

Olivia shook her head in clear amusement. "Speaking of my kid, how do you feel about packing an overnight bag and coming to spend the weekend at the apartment with Noah and me?"

Rafael smiled, kissing Olivia sweetly before replying. "It sounds like the perfect way to spend my weekend. Let's get dressed and we can go and spend the rest of our weekend with mi amiguito."

Olivia smiled as they walked back to Rafael's bedroom to get dressed and so that he could pack a bag. Last week she had had no idea when he was going to be returning to their lives. Now, he was going to be staying for the weekend with her and her son. After seeing him every day at her apartment for the last five days. Life for Olivia Benson was more than she could have ever imagined.


	17. Chapter 17

A few days passed and Rafael once again found himself back at the precinct meeting with SVU, Calhoun and, as was always a joy, Counsellor Stone.

A moment of patience in a moment of anger saves a thousand moments of regret.

He had to keep repeating this mantra in his head to keep himself from absolutely losing it on Stone, who had apparently not taken the hint to shut up and accept the fact that Rafael was now on the case.

As it turned out, last night the detectives were finally able to get their hands on those phone records they requested. It had taken them long enough.

Unfortunately, they had found even less than nothing on the computer. It had been worth a shot, though.

Fin, rather happily, had found an inculpating exchange that they were now using to move forward with the investigation. They'd wasted no time into bringing in the accused's friend who, quite willingly now, came forward about a conversation they had had after the aforementioned assault. Of course, there wasn't a direct admission, and this part of it was still 'he said she said', but there was enough to be able to look into his records for potential harassment as he had made a, frankly, in Rafael's opinion, weak threat. It was just enough for them to be able to play the intent to harass card though, which bought them some more time. That affidavit, as weak as it was, was still their best chance right now. They desperately needed more evidence or at least some sort of leverage to get a plea deal. The burden of proof was proving to be a pain in the ass this time around. Not that he hadn't thought that a million times before as well.

It really was weird to be back. He didn't dislike it though. Too bad it was only for one case.

"This is a conspiracy to commit witness tampering," he drawled, "among other things."

"Witness tampering? Please. That's weak, Barba," Rita said, "especially for you."

"I disagree," he said with a smirk. He then started launching into his argument and what his next move would be. Bluffing slightly, but intimidating the accused and Rita slightly. Good. He wanted them to think he was holding an ace in his pocket. He needed them too.

Rita shook her head. "See what you've made me have to work with, Stone?"

Rafael snorted.

"Rather presumptuous of you, Barba, don't you think?" Stone said angrily. "Do I not get a say in this?"

"By all means, Counsellor Stone," he deadpanned. "If I missed something, please, point it out. I am out of practice, after all."

He could see most people, Rita included, biting their lip to keep themselves from laughing.

Stone sighed. "Fine."

"Good," he said with a snort. "So, shall we go in front of Judge Barth or do you want to talk?"

"Nice try, Counsellor," she said, "but please, do call when you have something a little more substantial. Come again."

Carisi looked at him and mouthed something. Bluff.

"You do realize how many witnesses place you at the scene, Mr. Wright?" he said with a smirk. "When that DNA comes back later today, it will confirm your guilt, won't it? Moreover, we are talking about good girls who've done nothing. They will be believed, and all their testimonies will be heard. And... your counsel is operating under the assumption that this is a first-time offence." He glanced at the 21-year-old in front of him. "We both know that that's not the case, don't we?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Wright said, rather cockily.

"Oh, come on," he said. "We both know how these things work. Frat parties that lead to a little too much drinking, stupid choices are made, normally you're in a room with a fair number of pretty women. You're not the first man to indulge and you won't be the last."

"What are you implying?" Rita asked.

"He's saying that witnesses have also placed him with other, drunk, woman," Olivia said. "We talked to one just last night, who will be coming in later to give their official statement."

"All it takes is one to break, and the whole dam comes down," Rafael said.

"Did Carla talk to you?" Wright sneered. "She's a lying bitch."

"Be quiet," Rita said, trying to silence her client.

"What are you doing?" Stone hissed.

"Let him do him," Rollins said quickly, hushing the ADA.

"Carla Kortzman? Your friend Matt's sister? What would she have to be lying about?" Olivia said with a small pleased smile.

"Nothing," Wright scoffed. "She wanted it anyway."

"Shut up, Liam!" Rita said, and Rafael almost wanted to laugh.

"Carla wanted it just like Melissa did?" Carisi said. "Can I talk to you man to man? We see this kind of thing all the time. The after regret. I mean, you didn't force them to drink, right?"

"No."

"So," Fin said, "tell us what happened. What really happened."

"Help yourself," said Rafael. "If you don't you'll go away for a very long time. On multiple counts."

Their suspect had tried to remain neutral in their statement but about halfway through, with a little bit of pushing from Fin, Wright's anger took over and he was explaining everything that had transpired. He'd even confirmed several other victims before cooling off.

"I know what you did back there," Rita hissed, "but well played. You got my client to admit to mere suspicions."

"What can I say?" he said, oozing mirth. "I'm just that good."

She rolled her eyes, slightly irritated but amused all the same by his antics. "As infuriating as you are, are you willing to actually talk deal?"

"Yes."

"Good," she said with a resigned nod. "I'll call Stone."

"Perfect."

After fighting some more with Stone they managed to agree on a deal that everyone could live with. He would do ten to fifteen years with an allocution.

Given the mess this case had been, it was the best that SVU could hope for.

"Well done back there, Barba," Carisi said with a grin.

"As much as it pains me to admit this, you threw me a bone, Detective."

"And you ran with it and hit the ball out of the park," Carisi replied.

"I admit," said Stone, "you weren't entirely horrible."

"Thanks," he said with a snort. "Glad to know I didn't attend Harvard Law for nothing."

"Humble," Olivia said with a snort.

"Full scholarship too," he grinned. "And let's just say my Debate professor loved me. The only times I lost in that class was to this one annoying girl who managed to outmanoeuvre me. The professor genuinely asked me if I was sick the first time. His concern was quite touching, really."

At this, Rita just burst out laughing. "Good times, my friend. Good times. Although, that's what you get for not paying attention. Like ever."

He raised his eyebrow. "And I still could have taught the class."

"Actually true," Rita admitted. "Which is sort of funny and sad. Didn't he actually use you to teach a lesson one time?"

"He was trying to keep me engaged," he said smugly. "It worked. I much preferred that than having to listen to the explanations of things that, frankly, came in second nature to me. I was bored. Although, I seem to remember you asking me how I of all people got into Harvard."

"Well, have you met yourself?"

"I will have you know, Rita," he said smugly, "that I am pretty damn amazing."

"And humble," Rita said with an eye-roll.

"Of course," he said. "I really am the complete package."

"Why doesn't your mother smack you over the head more?" Rita deadpanned.

"She loves me too much."

"How unfortunate."

The entire squad just watch the exchange amused, except for Stone. "What is wrong with these two?"

"Everything," they said at the same time, and Stone, groaning, just quickly made his way out of the office. Nobody stopped him.

"And yet you were kind enough to lend me your yacht," he said. "Thanks again."

"Of course," she said. "It's sort of become the Island of Discarded ADAs. First, Paxton and then you. Moreover, I'll do anything to annoy my ex. Trust me, the reaction I got when I forwarded that photo of you on my yacht makes dealing with your insanity worth it."

"Oh, I know," he said with a laugh, "and glad I could be of service."

"Asshat."

"You're one yourself, Calhoun!" he said with a grin.

Rita just shook her head, an amused glint in her eyes. Despite the situation, she was glad that her old friend had his self-worth back. It had taken an extreme beating during and after his trial. He'd been put through hell.

"You two are worse than me and my own siblings," Carisi said with a laugh.

"You're just realizing this, Carisi?" Olivia said.

"Liv's got you there, Carisi!" Rollins said with a laugh.

* * *

'Is Barba Returning Home?' is the original story. The other author (BarsonFan) abandoned the story and upon request gave me permission to continue the story where they left off. As of this chapter, this work is all mine, however, and will be written by me.


	18. Chapter 18

All in all, it had been a rather long day.

Not so much in caseload but in sheer paperwork.

The only case they'd had today was a quick DV closing where Carisi and Rollins went to help make sure a girlfriend got out of her house and to a friend's house safely.

She shook her head. Domestic Violence cases could be some of the worst.

She was pulled from her musings by a knock on the door. "Hello. Erm... Lieutenant, do you have the reports from the three witnesses on the Oakley case?" Stone asked right as he entered Olivia's office in a rather automated tone, as though he already had a hundred other things running in his mind.

"Yeah, I'll get them for you. Just give me a minute," she said, glancing at him for a moment before returning her focus to the email she was typing. Stone edged into the office, standing awkwardly in the doorway and putting a hand in his pocket to fish for his phone. Liv then stood from her seat, fully revealing her light blue blouse and black blazer pantsuit. She grabbed a folder from the right side of her desk and walked it over to Stone, who was dressed in a black suit with an emerald green tie, a little too perfectly knotted.

"Thanks," Stone said, absentmindedly stuffing the folder under his arm and returning his phone to his front pocket. He nodded to her and walked back into the main area of the precinct. Olivia followed for a step and then leaned in her doorway, observing.

"And, Carisi, you have the case file for the Thompson trial, right?" Carisi looked up from his computer, still peeved at Stone's performance in court the day before.

"Yeah, I got it right here, Counsellor!" He handed the manila folder labelled 'Thompson' over his shoulder, still hunched over his desk and deliberately averting his gaze. Stone collected it, eyebrows furrowed at Carisi's seemingly (and rightly so) irritated behaviour.

"Everything alright?" Stone inquired, slightly leaning to the side to angle into Carisi's peripheral view. The detective suddenly stood up, eyeing Stone for a moment.

"Yeah, just fine, Counsellor!" Carisi said. "I would just really appreciate if you didn't let your emotions get the better of you and make you screw up our case next time." The detective was feeling more frustrated with Stone's actions lately than usual and had seriously considered taking Stone's job himself.

Stone just took a deep breath. "That case was hard on everyone, not just me."

"Fair enough," Carisi agreed, and Olivia kept watching, wondering where this is going. "The rest of us didn't cost us the case, though."

Carisi got up and pushed passed Stone into the break-room.

"I'll go talk to him," Olivia said with a sigh.

Stone just nodded as she walked away.

Hopefully, once she calmed Carisi down, the rest of the day would go quieter.

Pinching her nose, she started texting back and forth with Rafael. She'd since filled him in on all the drama of the day.

'_Do you want me to talk to him, Liv?__'_

_'Carisi? it's fine. I talked to him.'_

_'I meant Stone. Although, I can't believe I just offered that.'_

_'Why? Do you think it would do any good?'_

_'To give him a crash course in being a good SVU ADA and to clear the air? Yes.'_

_'Well, if you can impart even a modicum of your wisdom, we'll be forever grateful. He did seem to actually try to respect my boundaries today though.'_

_'Good, I suppose. I'll surprise him at the old office. I'll call Carmen so he can't leave. She'll bribe him with coffee or something.'_

_'Ok. Good luck.'_

'_I'm hardly at risk. The sentiment is appreciated, nonetheless.'_

With a sigh, he threw on some very casual clothes. He didn't want to get into a turf war with anyone or have anyone ask him about work, so it seemed best to make it clear that he wasn't there on professional business right off the bat.

Things were going to be awkward enough as it was.

Why had the even offered? What did he hope to actually gain?

He pinched his nose, sighing.

He could hear his Uber outside.

Taking a deep breath, he closed the door and made his way outside.

He kept getting odd looks from his Uber driver, who, Rafael assumed, recognized him from when his face was plastered all over the media during the Baby Drew debacle.

Ugh. He just wanted that left in the past.

Honestly, he hadn't slept much the first few weeks while he was gone. He'd drank way too much and when he did sleep he had had nightmares. He had had a lot of guilt to contend with. That's why he had needed to leave in the first place.

He hadn't lied on the stand. He didn't regret it necessarily; not that the child wasn't suffering, at least. That didn't mean he didn't feel guilty about taking a life, though. He didn't agree with the argument in court about Drew not being alive. It had been his best argument to avoid a lengthy prison sentence, though, so it was the best move at the time.

It had taken some time to sort of come to peace with what he'd done.

The looks he got occasionally still made him uncomfortable, though.

Finally, they arrived at his destination and he mumbled a goodbye to the driver in an attempt to be polite. Then he got out of the car he found it even harder to open the door to the building than he thought he would.

A very large part of him didn't want to deal with Stone. He'd been terrified of going to prison. With the Correctional Officers and inmates both holding grudges, he would have been lucky to survive the first week.

Then, Stone had the audacity to act the way he had been acting towards him ever since his return.

Why had he even suggested this?

Yes, he was trying to help Liv, but still...

He was tempted to turn around and find a café and ignored the entire thing when Carmen opened the door.

"Hello, Rafael."

"Carmen."

"It's been a while."

"I know. I'm sorry, about everything."

"Now's not the time, but we'll talk later, ok?"

He nodded. "Is he here?"

"Yes. I told him he had an appointment with McCoy."

"You didn't!"

"Yes," she said with a smirk. "It worked. He's being a good boy and staying in his office. I had to say something."

"Thanks, Carmen," he said. He took a deep breath. "Now, time to go have a long-overdue conversation."

Thankfully, he knew the building by the back of his hand and he was able to avoid most of the busier areas when he wasn't on the main floor.

He had had to endure a rather awkward silence in the elevator with a younger ADA, however, which made him rather happy for the elevator door to finally open.

Mustering up his perfected court poker face, he knocked on the door to his old office.

"Yes, who is it?"

"Counsellor Stone, it's me, Rafael," he said. "We need to talk."


	19. Chapter 19

Grudgingly, Stone granted him access and Rafael put on his best poker face. Yes, Stone had his rather arrogant moments when it came to him but then was it Stone's fault that he'd been made special counsel and that Rafael messed up? Not in the slightest. As for the arrogance, well, Rafael had that in spades himself. Basically, every attorney had it to some degree. He just had it more than some.

And he had to admit, he could easily have been right when he first arrived and Stone was just struggling to adapt to sex crimes.

He had proven himself capable during his own court case. More than reasonably competent, to the point that when he corned Rafael into admitting his own guilt on the stand, Rafael was certain he was going to prison for the next several decades. He also had a lot of similarities with his father who had been phenomenal at the job with moral and conviction in spades.

The Sex Crimes division was difficult, and especially with a close team such as the one he entered. Even for those who didn't start off on the wrong foot.

And then, he had no doubt been struggling with his own father's death during all this.

That _was_ what had brought Stone to town, after all.

"What do you want, Barba?" Stone asked, pulling him from his musings.

"I just want to clear the air, Counsellor," he stated without preamble. "You got brought into SVU under far less than ideal circumstances and than when I came back I made things more difficult."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I can't believe I am doing this," he grumbled. "I apologize."

Stone snorted. "Yes, you sound really apologetic."

"You're an arse you know that," Rafael scoffed, "but then I am too. Comes with the ADA territory, I suppose." He shrugged his shoulders. "In any case, I wasn't lying that first day when I told you that I was asking the team to give you a chance."

"You actually did that?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I know how hard sex crimes is; especially just starting out," he said. "You're largely under your father's shadow and working Manhattan Sex Crimes is a far cry from working Cook County's Special Prosecution. The job is stressful and Sex Crimes is even more incredibly draining than most departments. I also know how close the Manhattan team is and how hard it is to break in as an outsider. To earn the squad's trust."

"Then why did you go behind my back?"

"Because you were letting your emotions get in the way," Rafael said simply. "It's the same mistake I made. Coupled with that, when the team asked for help, wanting to bounce ideas off of me... There was more than enough for a warrant. I get not wanting to bring weak arguments to a judge, I've been there... but, Benson and Carisi especially know the law extremely well. They've all been around the block. If they need a warrant... You wanted more evidence but they can't get the evidence without the warrant. It was a hindrance. They asked, and well, you know I am close with Olivia especially. I made a call to a judge on their behalf and they took over from there. Plus, by that time, you'd already personally offended me even more than the whole trial debacle, which I had largely forgiven you for. So, part of it was out of spite." He paused. "I should have shown professional courtesy. You were right about that. I'd been in a similar situation in the past and said no to the team, with D.A Pam James, specifically. I'd even told them there were protocols among DAs; that I couldn't block James' efforts. I should have done the same with you."

"Hmmm."

"Honestly, though, Counsellor," Rafael continued. "You made mistakes as well. You forget that I chose to walk away. I wasn't fired. Hell, people, McCoy included, tried to stop me. I had to walk away and focus on myself, though. You basically attacking everything that makes me, well, me... Frankly, I wasn't going to react well. Not when I've fought tooth and nail for years for everything I gained. It killed me to walk away from everything I'd sacrificed so much for. I had to though."

"I get it," he said. "I even told Benson during your trial that I understood. Not that I agreed completely, but I did understand. I never wanted to you to actually go to prison. I didn't think you deserved that. A reprimand and maybe a suspension, but not life in prison."

"You did show you were a highly capable attorney there," he said. "I thought I was definitely going to prison."

"Well, the jury agreed with you and you did break down," Stone said. "Pity points work wonders." He looked at Rafael with a pleased smile. "I did become deputy chief for a reason. And it wasn't nepotism, even though I knew many people thought that."

"Fair enough," he said with a laugh. "You were a tough nut to crack." He paused. "Have you considered working Homicide?"

"Why?" Stone said with a frown.

"I don't mean anything by it," Rafael said hastily, "just that every division is so different in their own way, and although, with time, you'll probably be a fantastic Sex Crimes ADA, I think you'd do phenomenally there."

"To be honest," Stone said, "I've considered it briefly. Hell, I didn't even want to stay here in New York. It just happened."

"I get it," Rafael said with a laugh. "I got hired to work with SVU for one case, just after transferring, and well... one case turns into twenty and twenty into fifty, and so on. Life happens."

"So true," Stone said with a small chuckle. "Where the hell did you find that Dworkin man?"

"He's a special breed of crazy, isn't he?" Rafael said with a laugh. "Olivia thought I was absolutely mental for hiring him. He went to Harvard Law, like me. He clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia and primarily represents defendants in federal court. He is eccentric but very good at his job. You should hear some of the rants he's gone on over the years. He was positively normal during my trial."

"I'll give him that, but eccentric is putting it nicely."

"What can I say," Rafael smirked, "saving me from two decades in a federal penitentiary made me fond of the guy."

Stone just laughed, shaking his head.

"Fresh slate?" Stone said, sticking his hand out.

"Fresh slate," Rafael replied, taking the offered hand.


	20. Chapter 20

With the previous case that Rafael had signed onto closed, as of a couple of weeks ago, he was back out of work and was seriously starting to consider what was next for him. He already had an interview with Fordham and another one with a small business law firm. He hadn't heard anything back from either of those yet, however, although he was trying to be optimistic.

Fordham Law, he figured he would be hired, but he honestly didn't want to work there.

Maybe he could get his old job at Kings County back?

He shook his head. He wouldn't apply there for the same reasons he hadn't wanted to stick around the Manhattan office.

He had briefly considered actually taking Rita up on her job offer and just working low-level misdemeanours. The misdemeanours were really the only cases he was willing to work. He really didn't want to resort to letting serious criminals go free.

He would never be able to sleep at night. At one time, maybe, but he had enough blood on his hands as is.

His problem was he had options he was just too chicken. He could work at Kings County OR Manhattan. Jack McCoy would give him a job. He knew that. McCoy hadn't wanted him to leave. But...

UGH. It always came back to his damn pride.

It wasn't being there that made him uncomfortable necessarily, it was the thought of being in a courtroom at some point and having another ADA or Judge throw what he did in his face.

Stupid concerns as it's not like it would be relevant to any of the cases he would be trying. It would never be allowed to be brought into the courtroom. He knew that. But... still.

Maybe he should just suck it up and apply. Even when he was gone he'd done pro bono work, and the desire to stay in law was even stronger after getting dragged onto that case.

It was who he was. Then and now.

He did miss it, but to say he was scared was an understatement. Between the politics, which would mean he would be under extreme pressure to toe the party line, as he knew another mess up would not be tolerated, and the grief he knew the likes of John Buchanan and Jed Karey would give him...

Then again hadn't he once said, 'Thing about America: this country loves a comeback.'

He'd said it on his first-ever case with 16th's SVU.

Maybe he should bite the bullet as it were, stop running from work - he knew he was, and just fight to prove himself again. He'd done it before. The scrawny, poor, kid from the South Bronx... He'd fought hard to prove himself most of his childhood. He'd continued to fight hard at Harvard as the poor scholarship kid and had done very well there; the top of his class.

It hadn't stopped then either. He continued to fight tooth and nail for the formidable reputation he had come to know as a prosecutor for a long time. He had very quickly risen up the ladder to become the senior Manhattan ADA. He had been in line to become the next EADA.

Unfortunately, he'd also manage to later horribly damage everything.

He could have fought to fix the mess but he'd just been so emotionally drained.

When did he start running from his problems? Why the hell had he quit his job?

McCoy would have given him a few weeks off to pull himself together if needed, which is largely what he had needed.

No, the quitting was all on him.

He knew what he wanted to do, but why couldn't he pick up that damn phone?

In any case, things were more than busy for Olivia. Her team had caught wind of some case involving a young teenager called Sam Conway. Olivia obviously wasn't super talkative about it, but it was more than obvious that the boy was being less than forthcoming. The entire team was getting frustrated.

Apparently, the other day, in court, Stone had recalled this woman to the stand. The defence had obviously objected, and Stone had then explained that as Molly had tampered with evidence - something about washing bloody clothes and misleading the police - she was advancing a mutual criminal conspiracy.

That opened up charges against her for being an un-indicted co-conspirator.

That was one of the only good things done in the case, according to Liv, as it meant the judge said the woman's communications were no longer protected and Stone could call her to testify.

This should have been a good thing, but apparently, the cross didn't go as well as Stone hoped, as these things sometimes go, and she ended up revealing some stuff that hadn't been disclosed which meant she was basically useless and did more damage than anything.

Unfortunately, the jury had found this guy, John something or other, not guilty of rape in the first degree.

Not exactly a happy ending.

The entire team was hoping they could retrial. So, of course, that meant they were all working overtime to try and either get more evidence or to get the teenager to finally come forward. Honestly, Rafael couldn't really blame the boy. All this would be a struggle for an adult, let alone a child.

Regardless, it did seem that things with Stone were going much smoother. Although, he had to stifle a laugh when Olivia got home and mentioned that Stone almost did something completely asinine that could have been fatal and her eventual solution was to say, "Stone, do you want me to set Barba on you? I swear, I will."

Apparently, that had gotten the desired response from the ADA and although irritated he was much more reasonable after that.

Thank God. With Stone's sister involved he couldn't even begin to understand how much effort that would have taken him.

Rafael knew that if it had been Olivia again in that situation or his mother or, God forbid, his grandmother, he would have been even more difficult than Stone had been.

Shaking his head, he dialled the old familiar number that he knew by rote. It didn't take long to get an answer. "Oigo." (Listening.)

"Hola, Eddie," he said. "Are you home?"

"Rafi, ¿cómo estás?" came Eddie's voice on the other end. They'd talked on the phone some but they hadn't seen each other in a long time. Things weren't exactly the same after everything with Alex, but - he sighed. At least they still had a relationship. Hopefully, they'd be able to continue mending it. He was grateful that Eddie was so loyal. He'd stuck by him, even when Rafael's own mother hadn't. (How are you?)

"I'm doing well, thanks," he said, "y tú?"

"I'm good," Eddie replied, clearly pleased Rafael had called if his tone was anything to go by. "Te gustaría tomar un café?" (Would you like to grab a coffee?)

"Me encantaría," Rafael said with a grin. "Your place? Or did you have somewhere in mind?" (I'd love to.)

"Has almorzado?" Eddie asked. (Have you eaten?)

"No, todavía no," he replied. "I had a job interview. How do you feel about Italian? My treat." (No, not yet.)

"What restaurant?"

"Forlin's?" he suggested.

"Ah," Eddie said. "Baxter Street, right?"

"That's the one," he said. "If you have any other suggestions, though..."

"No, that sounds good," the other man said. "Give me forty and I'll be there."

"Great! Then, yo me piro!" Rafael said happily. "See you soon." (I'm heading out.)

"See you soon," Eddie said before he hung up the phone.

It hadn't taken Rafael long to get ready and then he was making the just-under-a-half-hour trip to Forlini's.

He'd just take over his old seat and chat with Anthony, as he'd done thousands of times over the years, while he waited for Eddie.

Grinning stupidly, he made his way up to the bar and took his usual seat.

"Barba! Good to see you, man!"

"Hi, Anthony," he said with a grin.

"Usual, I take it?" the bartender said.

"Presumptuous of you, don't you think?" he quipped. "Maybe my tastes have changed."

"I doubt that," he said with a small grin on his face. "Although, if you want I'll give you a glass of Cabernet."

Anthony laughed at the face Rafael made. "I'll get you your scotch."

"Thanks, smartass."

"Takes one to know one," he said laughing.

A moment later, he was sipping on his drink and watching the news; occasionally bantering back and forth with Anthony.

Eddie was a little late, but Rafael hadn't minded. Traffic always sucked, and today had been more of a drive for Eddie than him. Rafael lived quite a bit closer. An extra ten minutes was really nothing.

"Sorry, el trafico era terrible," Eddie said as they sat down at a booth behind where Rafael had previously been seating. (Traffic was terrible.)

"No te preocupes por eso," he said, smiling. "No worries. I'm just glad you came." (Don't worry about it.)

"Did you think I wouldn't?"

"Well, I know we've talked some over the phone, but -"

"Hey, Rafi, stop right there." Eddie paused. "You made mistakes, so what? We all do. I made huge mistakes, and you stood by me. You're not the only one to make mistakes. We just learn from them and move on. You're my brother, Rafi. I ain't walking away."

"Thanks," he said. "How's Sebastián? Your mom?"

"Seb's doing well," Eddie said with a smile. "Mami too."

"Glad to hear it," Rafael said. "How's work been?"

"It's been good," he replied and trailed off into a long story that happened at one of his co-worker's birthday party.

The waitress took their orders and as they ate and talked more about what they'd been up to the last few months.

"So, where will you be taking her on a date?" Rafael inquired with a grin, rather happy for his friend. He'd gotten a new female colleague about a month back and they'd really hit it off, so he was wanting to give it a chance.

"Well, I was thinking about Victor's."

"Good choice," he replied.

"Well, she's mentioned wanting to try Cuban food," Eddie said with a shrug. "I can't say I'm complaining."

"As long as she tries the lechón con moros y maduros," he quipped.

"You have problems, Rafi," the other man said, chuckling. "There's a lot more food where that came from."

He shot his friend a very cheesy smile. "Ah, but that dish is the best."

Eddie gave a little snort. "You're addicted."

"Unashamedly," he replied after another bite of food.

Eddie rolled his eyes.

"Oh, come on," Rafael said with mirth, "You know it's my favourite. As a matter of fact, if I were to be asked what would be the last meal I would want on earth it would be that."

"Oh, I know!" Eddie said. "As I said, you're addicted."

He quirked an eyebrow. "And your point is?"

"You're impossible," Eddie said with a shake of his head. "You know that, right?"

"Créeme, my mother has told me the same thing a thousand times over the years," he deadpanned. "You too, as a matter of fact. I also doubt it'll be the last time."

"¡Oh, estoy de acuerdo, Rafi!" Eddie said with no little amount of amusement in his voice. "Believe me, I agree." (Oh, I agree, Rafi!)

"With what part?" he deadpanned. "The fact that I've been told it constantly or that it won't be the last time?"

"Both."

"Very funny," he said with a snort.

"Oh, I know!" Eddie replied. "I'm a riot."

Now it was Rafael's turn to roll his eyes.

After a moment, Rafael spoke. He figured he might as well talk to Eddie about it and get his take. Eddie was one of the people he was closest to, despite everything. He also wasn't about to judge him for messing up. He'd made that clear. Although, Rafael really shouldn't have had any doubt about that. He knew how supportive and loyal Eddie could be. "So, can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course, Rafi." He looked at Rafael searchingly. "¿Qué es? What's up?"

"¿Fui estúpido por dejar el trabajo?" he asked, not sure if he really wanted to hear the reply. "Be honest." (Was I stupid for quitting my job?)

He wanted to know what Eddie thought about his having quit his job in the Manhattan D.A's Office. It would also be nice to bounce how he was feeling off of someone because he was having very little luck sorting his thoughts out himself regarding this.

"I think you did what you had to at the time," Eddie said, his demeanour turning rather serious. "You were in a lot of pain and just weren't in a good place mentally. Honestly, would you have been able to do your job then?"

"No," he admitted, knowing that was a large part of the reason he left. He had known he'd needed space to deal with things in his own way. At his own pace. He had also needed not to have reminders shoved in his face constantly which was all he would've gotten had he stayed with the D.A's Office or even just stayed in the city. "I needed the break. Realmente lo necesitaba." (I really needed it.)

"Exactly," the other man replied. The man gave him a warmer smile now. "You're a lot happier now. That's a good thing. What brought this up? ¿Estás pensando en volver?" (Are you thinking of going back?)

He shook his head. "Tumba eso." (Drop it.)

His friend gave him a pointed look. "Rafael."

Rafael sighed. "Fine... Yes. Am I crazy for considering it?"

"No, of course not, Rafi!" the other man assured him. "Claro que no. If you want to, go for it. I'll support you."

Rafael touched his lips with the tip of his tongue briefly, eying Eddie as he then spoke. "No sé lo que realmente quiero." (I don't know what I want, Really.)

Eddie regarded him, knowing Rafael better than most after so many years of friendship.. "¿Sabes lo que pienso? Creo que sabes lo que quieres hacer, pero tienes miedo." (You know what I think? I think you know what you want to do, but you're scared."

He sighed. "No puedo discutir con eso. Pero, Eddie, I-" (I can't argue with that.)

Eddie shot him a pointed look. "Go for it, Rafi."

"Really?"

"¡Dale!" his friend said. "Will it be hard? Yes. Pero, you'll regret it if you don't at least see if you can do it."

"Thanks, Eddie." It came out rather quiet.

"Go call him," Eddie suggested. "I'll be here when the call is done."

He nodded and took a deep breath before getting up and heading outside to make a phone call he never thought he'd be making.

Eddie was right, though. He couldn't _not_ do it.

"Hi, Jack! It's Rafael Barba. Can we talk?"


	21. Chapter 21

_"Can we talk?"_ When the words came out, he was surprised at how steady his voice sounded. He was honestly a bit of a mess inside, and had no idea how he managed to not have it really leak into his voice.

"By all means, Rafael," came the other man's voice. "What did you need?"

"Do you remember the conversation we had when you received my resignation?"

"Yes." There was a pause. "I told you that you didn't have to leave." Another pause. "Is that what this is about?"

"I can't believe I'm even doing this, but Jack, does that offer still stand?"

"If you're sure you want to come back -" A pause. "There are a few. I have someone who is transferring to Queens next month, actually."

Rafael blinked. "Are you sure?"

"If you want it, it's yours, el tiburón," the man said with a soft chuckle. "I've actually been waiting to see if you'd ever come to your senses. Come back. Show them what you're made of."

"Alright," he said. "I'll take it." He paused. "I appreciate the offer. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful or anything."

"No worries, Rafael. I'll move Stone to the outgoing ADA's office if you would like," the Manhattan District Attorney said. "You can have your old one back."

"Don't push it if he wants to stay," Rafael requested. "But if he is agreeable, I'll take it. No hesitation."

"I'll sell him on the window view," the man deadpanned. "He'll move. He's mentioned wanting a different office as well. Something about his team and him being slightly uncomfortable."

Rafael couldn't hold back a snort. "From what I understand, that's an understatement."

"Believe me," Jack said. "I've just been waiting to have an office to move him to."

"Hmmm."

"Stop by later and I'll have the paperwork with Carmen for you." A pause. "Welcome back, Rafael."

"Thank you," he said, a lump in his throat.

He quickly said goodbye and then made his way back to the table.

"So?" Eddie said. "Qué pasó? What did he say?"

"I am once again a New York ADA." He couldn't help the smile that graced his lips.

"¡Chévere!" Eddie exclaimed. "When do you start?"

"Next month."

"I'm proud of you, Rafi."

He gave the man a crooked smile. "Gracias, Eddie."

"Come on," his friend said with a grin. "Let's have a drink to celebrate."

"Sounds good to me."

All Rafael could think of while chatting with Eddie was how good it felt to be home.

At that moment, he couldn't have been more thankful for the invitation to sports game he'd received from a little boy.

After they said their goodbyes, the afternoon went quite smoothly. He stopped by his mother's charter school briefly to say hello, and then Carisi sent him a message basically pleading for some actual coffee or snacks. They'd apparently not had much time for lunch and figured they'd be doing overtime. Again.

Shaking his head, he ran down to a little corner store, his favourite coffee shop, and then made his way to the 16th precinct.

He ignored the weird looks he got from one or two people and made it into SVU's Squad Room.

"You're a god amongst men, Barba!" Carisi said.

"Huh," he replied with a snort. "You're an easy man to bribe. I agree that this is some damn good coffee though." He then grabbed Liv's coffee and passed it to her. "And a coffee with an unhealthy amount of cinnamon for the lady."

"Unhealthy amount of my foot up your ass," Liv said with a snort. "Do not insult my cinnamon."

"Ok, ok!" he said laughing. "Retraction. Retraction."

"So," Fin said. "Why are you in such a cheerful mood?"

"You're smiling and it's a bit scary," Rollins said with a laugh.

"Can I guess?" Liv chimed in. "You had some job interviews today and yesterday, yes? Did you hear back from them?"

"Right train of thought, Liv, but not quite." He gave her a mischevious grin. "You'll never guess. However, I will say that I just left lunch with Eddie, so there is that."

"How is he doing?"

"He's doing really well," Rafael said. "I'm glad."

"I'm glad to hear it," Olivia said. "But seriously, can you tell us what I was on the right train of thought with?"

"It has to do with an employment prospect."

"Oh?"

"Where?" said Carisi. "Is it a sure thing?"

"You're staying local, I hope?" Fin said, giving him a warning look. His look clearly said that if Rafael left again and hurt Olivia, Fin would definitely have something to say about it and that Rafael would no doubt be made to regret that choice. It amused Rafael more than anything, though, as he knew he had nothing to worry about. He didn't plan on leaving. And he really did appreciate Liv having someone like Fin who had her back.

"Yes," he said, assuring everyone. "And I am completely insane for doing this, but it's a sure thing."

"Come on, Rafa," Olivia said with an amused shake of the head. "Just tell us already."

"Tomorrow when the paperwork is signed," he stated simply. "I refuse to jinx it."

"But it's good?" Olivia asked.

"Very good, Liv."

"Then I can't wait to find out," she said.

"In any case, I should go," he informed the group. "I have it on good authority that if I don't visit my aunt and mother for dinner tonight that I will regret it. Frankly, I have no desire to face their wrath, so -"

"Scared of mommy?" Carisi said teasingly.

"No," he said. "I just have a healthy respect for her."

"Uh huh," Fin said. "Sure thing, Barba."

He quirked an eyebrow.

"Healthy respect for what?" Carisi said with a look of pure mirth.

"A healthy respect for the fact that she can and will hand my ass to me," he said. "Happy now?"

"Mama's boy," Fin said, lightly teasing.

"Rita Calhoun herself won't even mess with my mother," he said wryly. "In any case, I want to go get cleaned up and see if I can get that paperwork sooner rather than later."

"You still won't tell us?" Rollins asked.

"No. Not yet. I might stop by tomorrow with lunch for you all and let you know then."

"Sounds like a good plan," Carisi said with a grin.

"You better cook again," Rollins said. "The food you made last time was amazing."

"It is a fine art," he said with a grin. "I'll talk to you band of loony toons tomorrow." He then leaned in and gave Olivia a quick hug, not wanting to make too public a scene in such an open space. "Nightcap tonight, Liv?"

"Sounds perfect, Rafa."

Unfortunately, the afternoon didn't stay as calm as Liv liked and she got stuck dealing with a mess at the precinct. Apparently, there was some sort of shooting by the kid and he went to a baseball diamond with a gun still on him. Rafael hadn't gotten all the details, but enough to know that he would likely be relieving Lucy and babysitting for an hour or two as Olivia was certainly going to be very late tonight, trying to deal with the aftermath.

He ended up taking Noah out to the park for a bit before making Noah dinner and sitting down to watch a movie.

The boy ended up picking Coco which he'd apparently become slightly obsessed with.

Rafael didn't mind, though. It was a decent movie and he was able to watch and occasionally scribble some stuff down onto his reinstatement paperwork. He'd managed to finish it, as he really hadn't taken that long.

Now, he just needed to get it to D.A'd Office first thing tomorrow and hope that McCoy wasn't given too much grief from his higher-ups when they found out that Rafael Barba was not only being rehired but reinstated. That's why he hadn't wanted to really say anything to Olivia and the rest of the squad just yet.

Eddie already knew the situation. That was different. And at least if it did fall through, he wouldn't have to explain much to Eddie.

He honestly didn't foresee an issue though. McCoy never backed down and was political as well. If he really thought there would be an issue that would cause him difficulties at work he would honestly have told Rafael that. And McCoy would likely push back and hire him anyway, telling his higher-ups that Rafael had been cleared and to give him a chance to prove himself. He'd have the job either way, even if he was under intense scrutiny.

He was simply nervous that something had to give. Things had been going much too smoothly for him lately, which unsettled him some.

Noah had decided a little after six o'clock that he wanted cookies. After looking through several different chocolate chip cookie recipes on the internet, Rafael had determined that he was a fit enough chef for the job.

He did not take into account the skill level of his not so delicate assistant. Which was to say, the cookies turned out great. They were warm and gooey. Basically, perfection in Rafael's book. The kitchen, however, looked like a war zone.

There was chocolate on the ceiling and eggs on the floor. Rafael had finally managed to get the chocolate off of Noah's face only to have it replaced by a sticky mess of flour and sugar.

"Let's not tell your mother about this, Amigo!" he said with a laugh. "Go take a shower and I'll tidy -" He gestured to the mess.

The boy seemed to consider it a second, but, thankfully, didn't put up any fight. "Okay, Uncle Rafa!" the boy said, running to the bathroom.

"Don't run, you'll slip!"

"I'm fine," the boy retorted, causing Rafael to roll his eyes. For the millionth time in the last two days.

With the kitchen once again spotless and Noah having eaten and bathed, he checked the time. It was already eight o'clock. Noah really _should_ be in bed.

He had Noah pick a story and they read it on the couch. Things were going well until he said it was time for Noah to get into bed.

He didn't want to go to bed and when Rafael tried to explain to him that it was late, he pushed him away forcefully.

He told Noah to never do that again.

"But -" the boy stammered.

He quickly shut Noah down, not wanting to give the boy a chance to justify it and ordered him back to bed. He said that they could talk about it later and that if Noah wanted he could help make the squad lunch again.

He covered Noah who pushed the covers back off.

Noah was really trying his patience tonight.

Taking a deep breath, he put the covers back on and said goodnight. He kissed Noah on the forehead and left.

He hadn't been back in the living room for more than a minute or two before the door opened. Olivia had finally managed to come home from work.

"How were things with Noah?" Olivia asked after giving him a quick kiss.

"Fine." He paused. "Liv, can I ask you something? Answer honestly."

"Sure, Rafa!" she said. "What is it?" He could tell she was slightly concerned.

"Has Noah ever been violent with you?"

"No, why?" she asked. "Did the school call the apartment or something? A parent?"

He shook his head.

"Was he..?" She looked so confused. "Did he do something to you?"

"It's probably nothing, but I think you might want to see if he's having problems at school," he said.

"Why?" she asked. "He hasn't said anything."

"Well, he seemed to act out slightly tonight. Maybe something at school is frustrating him...?"

"Violently?"

With a sigh, he explained what had happened. "He didn't mean any harm by it, Liv. We both know that, but I'm just concerned about if he does it with another kid. I'm bigger than a kid his age. What won't hurt me in the slightest could get him in trouble. I'd hate for that to happen."

"It's just not like him," his girlfriend said with a frown.

"I know," Rafael assured her. "That's why I asked if he was having trouble at school. Or maybe something happened at the park one day. I don't know."

"He hasn't said anything."

"Maybe ask Lucy tomorrow morning?" he asked. "Maybe she saw or overheard something or a teacher said something when she picked him up?"

"It's worth a shot," Olivia agreed.

"Enough about that for now," Rafael said, kissing her. "You have dinner to eat and then I want some quality time with my girlfriend."

"Sounds good to me," Olivia said with a grin.


	22. Chapter 22

He woke up, yawning. He'd been at Liv's quite late the night before.

He quickly made himself a café con leche and sat, looking out the window. The weatherman had said it was supposed to rain today but given the clear blue sky and very little clouds, Rafael wasn't sure if he totally believed it. It wouldn't be the first time that the weatherman was wrong. In any case, a little rain never hurt anyone.

Having a couple sips of coffee, he set the cup on the kitchen counter and quickly fried up some eggs, taking out some Cuban bread and ham to go with them.

After his second cup of coffee he threw on an outfit that very much fit into business casual, did his hair, and quickly checked that all his papers were in order. They were obviously, but he just wanted to be sure. He didn't feel like making multiple trips just for one set of documents and his perfectionist streak was beginning to show again. Years of habit.

When you basically live with mountains of paperwork for various cases, and a bunch of law research, on your desk... well, suffice to say, staying organized was the only way you wouldn't go mental a week in.

Some habits are apparently harder to break than others.

He also didn't particularly want to hang out at the District Attorney's Office long until he actually knew if he'd be back or not. He didn't want any of the ADAs throwing a tantrum and making things more difficult for McCoy than they needed to be.

Feeling quite pleased, he made his way downstairs, got in the Uber and dropped off the papers.

Carmen had a rather pleased grin on herself both yesterday and today and tried to assure him that more people thought he'd gotten the raw end of the deal than not and he was more than welcome back.

He appreciated it but wasn't exactly sure how to respond.

Regardless, now all he had to do was wait for a call from McCoy. Until then, he didn't have a whole lot to do.

He went back to Olivia's and started making lunch for Olivia and everyone with the help of Noah. Lucy even joined in. Apparently, she enjoyed cooking as well, although between school and everything she didn't get to play around with it as much as she would like. Yes, she cooked regularly for Noah and herself, but Noah wasn't exactly the most adventurous when it came to food.

Then again. Very few kids his age were.

They ended up dropping off lunch, and Lucy actually accompanied them. She'd gone once or twice but usually didn't. She figured it would be nice to see everyone though, so accepted when Rafael extended the invitation.

After lunch, they didn't stick around too long, however, as the team had court.

They were all hoping Stone could pull off a really good closing argument, because this case was a struggle.

Stone did ask him a couple of questions, however, and bounced some ideas off of him.

Hopefully, it would help, but as Rafael didn't know everything, and you could never actually predict what comments or questions would come up, Stone would likely be blindsided. It always happened. The art of being a prosecutor was being able to think quickly on your feet. Very quickly.

Stone definitely had that, and Rafael had no doubt he'd need to use it today. A lot.

Rafael basically hung around the house and was pleasantly surprised when he actually received a phone call from Carmen.

"Rafael Barba."

"Oh, I know," she said with a laugh. "Barba, I am currently looking at a sealed work contract. Care to come down?"

"Already?" That was fast.

"Apparently the DA doesn't want to give you time to change your mind," she said with a lilt of amusement.

"Huh, well, I will be down shortly."

"Better idea," she said. "Stone is about to head back to court."

"You are not suggesting..."

"Oh, you're going to very publically get it," she said with a laugh.

"I hate you."

"You love me."

He rolled his eyes, not caring that she couldn't see him. "I have grown fond of you over the years, although, I am forgetting why."

"Haha. You have half an hour mister."

"You're impossible."

"Takes one to know one, Mister."

Knowing he was not going to win a fight with Carmen and really wanting that contract signed and dealt with, he said goodbye and quickly called for an Uber. He wasn't about to waste time, and honestly, it would be nice to get it over with.

He knew everyone was curious, but he'd managed to get out of the topic during lunch.

Olivia wasn't going to let it go though, so he'd be telling her tonight, regardless.

It actually felt good to be working back into the courthouse and knowing it was work related and not because he was in trouble. Maybe that was the point of Carmen doing this? To get returning to the courthouse for the first time over and done with. Either way, he wasn't really complaining.

Sure enough, it took no time at all to locate their room.

Several of the Manhattan SVU squad were waiting outside.

"Barba," Stone said. "Carmen told me to expect you."

"She basically ordered me here," he deadpanned. "I'm assuming that package is for me."

"Who else would it be for?" Stone wasn't really asking a question.

"What is it?" Carisi asked.

"Seriously, man?" Fin said. "Get out of here! You're back?"

Now Liv was grinning from ear to ear. "This was the job prospect?"

"This," he said, waving the sealed file, "is the contract which upon my signing means I am once again a Manhattan ADA - starting a month from now." He couldn't stop himself from giving that usual cocky smile of his that he was known for in the courtroom.

Everyone was immediately chattering happily and Liv gave him a hug. "I'm proud of you."

"I guess I owe you congratulations as well," said Stone, rather stiffly.

"Thank you."

"So, how did this happen?" Carisi asked. "How long has this been in the works?"

"Well, since yesterday, actually."

"Oh?" Carisi said.

"Yes," he said. "Towards the end of lunch, I had a phone call with McCoy who apparently moves fast." He waved the file again. "Carmen said she thinks McCoy didn't want to give me a chance to run and hide again."

"Then he's smarter than I gave him credit for," Liv said with a soft smile.

"How's court been?" he asked, turning to Stone.

"Well, John's lawyer claimed we can't make parents liable for the independent action of their kids. I am up next and I'm going to try and counter it by talking about what men do and asking things like what if you cry or can't shoot a rabbit, you don't deserve to be a son. Basically, throw the father's words back at him, and prove a point to the jury. Basically what you and I discussed earlier. Sam is John's son, and John was preaching power over others, not about being a man. That is about being a criminal."

"Sounds like a good argument, at least initially," he said. "Just don't let your self get cornered."

"Wasn't planning on it," Stone retorted.

"I know," he assured the ADA. "You're creative. You'll be fine. Just make sure you use it."

"Oh, I intend to," Stone said with a smirk.

"Perfect."

Moments later court was called back into session and Rafael found himself scrambling to get out of the courthouse without being hounded by a bunch of ADAs who were coming and going. He wasn't in the mood to deal with all the questions just yet. Once the papers were signed and he was actually looking court presentable, bring it. He did want some more time to enjoy it before the chaos started, though.

To say he wasn't surprised when he came home and Olivia informed him that the jury had found John guilty of criminally negligent homicide would be an understatement.

He knew court by the back of his hand.

And he called it. Stone was made for homicide.


	23. Chapter 23

The next several months passed in a blur. In a good way. He and Liv were still going strong, and he'd caught her actually looking at places. He'd managed to dodge a bullet so far every time Noah asked if they were going to get married, but still. Not that he hadn't considered it, but he didn't want to push too hard just yet.

He also visited with Eddie a fairly regularly now. It was nice, having his best friend back.

He'd been back to work at the D.A's Office for two months with Manhattan Homicide. It was interesting, but he did miss the Sex Crimes division.

The second Stone put in for a transfer to Richmond County Homicide, Rafael jumped at the chance he'd been given. McCoy had actually called and let him know that SVU would need a new ADA before even Olivia had known. He'd offered Rafael time to consider his options but Rafael hadn't needed it. He'd taken the post without a second of hesitation. He'd just finished his first case back with them.

It'd been a rather stressful case, so that's how Rafael found himself at Forlini's with Carisi on a Friday night while it was raining cats and dogs.

"I should get going."

"Well, I certainly hope you parked close," Rafael deadpanned, gesturing to the windows.

"Yeah, well if I don't leave right now," Carisi said, "I'm gonna get an earful."

"Oh, where's the fire?" He took a sip of his scotch.

"That fire would be my sister."

"Ah."

"I've only had my truck for a month," Carisi explained. "She thinks I'm her own personal U-Haul."

"Can't relate," he said with a laugh. "Nobody ever lets me drive."

"Stick to Uber, Rafael!" Carisi quipped. "Anyway, you know... I love my sister, I do. And I would do anything for her, but sometimes I wish she would just go away."

"Oh, believe me," Rafael said, "I get complicated family."

"Oh?"

"Long story," said Rafael, taking another sip. "Let's leave it at that."

"Understood." Carisi then moved to pay.

"No, it's on me," Rafael said. "I still owe you a drink for passing that bar exam."

"I won't say no to that," Carisi said. "Hey, be safe."

"You do know what I do for a living, right?"

"Oh, I remember Felipe Heredio," Carisi said with an eye-roll. "That's why I am saying to be safe."

"I will, Carisi," he said with an eye roll. "Go see your sister."

"Night."

"Night," Rafael said, taking one last sip of his scotch before heading back to Liv's.

He stayed up chatting with her some and watching a film before both of them passed out.

Both of them had been hoping they would have the chance to sleep in some the following morning, but alas, it was not to be. Liv got a wake-up call around seven in the morning and had to head out with one of her detectives to a crime scene.

"Glad to be back yet?" she said as she got dressed in her work clothes.

"Ecstatic," he drawled. "I'll call Lucy in an hour. Let her get some rest."

"Ok, thanks, Rafa!" she said, leaning in for a kiss.

"Hmm, go before I regret letting you leave this bed."

She laughed. "Tempting, but I think Dodds and McCoy would have something to say about that."

"They ruin all my fun." He looked so put out, although the glint in his eyes gave him away. She just laughed, kissed him again, and headed down to her car.

With her gone, he got up and had a coffee and a shower. He then helped himself to a second cup of coffee and gave Noah about ten minutes before dragging him out of bed to get ready for school.

With Noah at school, he just did some paperwork and waited for a call from Liv confirming he had a case.

She didn't disappoint. By later afternoon he was called into the precinct to watch an interrogation.

He had been quickly filled in on the case.

Benson and Carisi had discussed the victim's injuries from the doctor at the hospital. The rape kit tested positive. The victim's name was Grace Walker and she had no family that they knew of. The hospital had found she had a high BAC and also had THC in her system. Grace disclosed that she didn't remember the attack. She remembered that it was raining and she had been on her way home. She had ducked into a bar to wait it out. Guys brought her a few drinks and she woke up at the hospital.

She hadn't been able to recall their names.

They'd managed to connect Silas Perry to this, but that was it. They really needed this interrogation to reveal something.

"The bar was closing," the suspect, Silas Perry, said. "Grace wasn't ready to call it a night. She wanted to hit some after-hours joint. I should've gone home."

"But you were doing your thinking from below the belt," Rollins said.

"Stupid's not against the law," Silas said.

"Well, horny might be," Rollins said.

"You knock all your women unconscious?" Fin asked.

"How many times do I have to say it?" the suspect said. "She attacked me."

-"'Cause she was trying to rob you?" Fin prodded.

"Yes," Silas replied.

"You didn't call the cops?" Fin retorted, more of a statement than a question.

"I'm married," Silas said. "We had sex. I can live with a couple of black and blue marks."

"Well, isn't this guy a piece of work," Rafael said to Liv. They were outside the room watching the interrogation together.

"Well, he's tenacious," Olivia said. "I'll give him that."

Just then Carisi walked in.

"Finally, somebody to end our misery," Olivia said.

Rafael wasn't as optimistic but was still a bit hopeful. "Detective, please say you've got something for us."

"Sorry to disappoint you both," Carisi said, "but it turns out Grace may not be who we thought she was."

He gave the blond detective an incredulous look. "What?!"

"Not only was the number she gave me fake, Counsellor," Carisi explained, "but the doorman at the building I dropped her off at had no idea who she was."

"Well, isn't this just great," Rafael said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Take a look at this," Carisi said, pulling up the video footage he'd just got. Carisi then started to add commentary. "See, she goes in. She turns around. She comes right back out. Now, Grace was concerned about how her boyfriend was gonna react -"

"There's no guarantee he would ever find out even with her cooperation," Rafael said. He shook his head. "But needless to say, without her testimony, this case isn't going anywhere. I need something. Anything."

"Counsellor -

"Lieutenant, I have no cooperating victim and no evidence," Rafael said. "Unless you want me to indict the air... Find me something fast."

"Look, she stayed up drinking with him until 2:00 in the morning," Olivia said. "She had to have said something that will help us find her."

"What's the plan, Lieu?"

"You'll see." Not bother to explain further, she quickly entered interrogation and Rafael watched as she told Silas she believed him and proceeded to ask him questions about what he and the vic talked about.

The interrogation wasn't especially useful until Silas kept going on about some unnamed diner on 155th near Broadway.

He wasn't entirely surprised when Olivia told the detectives to put the perp in the cage.

"What's eating at you, Counsellor?" Rollins asked.

"_Peripatetic_," he drawled. "Where does a homeless young adult learn a word like that?"

He can literally see the lightbulb go off in Rollins' eyes. She then quickly brought up the sorority house phone and the theory that Grace went to college there emerged.

"Send Fin and Carisi to Spence to speak with Theta Pi Kappa," Rafael said. "They'll be records of her at the college. Other students. Former classmates. It might be our lucky break."

Olivia looked amused. "You heard the man, Amanda. Get on it."

"Alright. I'll talk to ya'll later then."

Olivia looked at him. "Carisi just sent me a video from the girls' dorm. Want to watch it, Barba?"

"Is it useful for court?"

"Not sure, to be honest."

He shook his head. "Lead the way then, Lieutenant."

"Hey, Sophie, Sophie."

Sophie is sitting on her bed. "Hello."

"Come on, everyone's going to the Zeta party tonight."

"Everyone except for this future doctor, that is," another friend said.

"Come on, you know you want to go."

"Plus Paul's going."

Sophie groans. "You better not be lying to me."

"And do a shot of tequila with me."

Sophie shakes her head, bemused. "I need to get dressed."

Once the video was over, he took a deep breath, turning the video footage off.

"This was only a week before she disappeared? he said, still stunned. "I can't believe it's the same girl."

He couldn't. The lovely, vibrant, clearly studious girl on those tapes was nothing like a shell of a human being that SVU met at the hospital that day.

"Three years on the street will do that to you." She paused, clearly wanting to say something.

"What is it, Liv?" he said softly.

"You know, we had the same reaction when you came back. Although, in reverse."

"Excuse me?"

"You've changed a lot, Rafa," she explained. "You're happier. Lighter. You seemed more relaxed than any of us had ever seen you when you walked up to us in the park that day."

He sighed. "It was good for me, I'll give you that. I just hope we can get this girl the help she needs."

"You and me both."

"Let's contact her parents, shall we?"

"Way ahead of you, as usual, Counsellor!" Carisi says, walking up. "They're here."

Rafael just nods. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

If he was hoping for the talk with the parents to be productive, he was quickly disabused of that notion.

The parents explained that Sophie's mother died and that the father's new wife may have caused Sophie, the girl's real name, some upset the last time they saw each other. But still, they seemed reasonable, and it was good insight, honestly. The problem came when the father became irate when he found out they had her and let her go and she is back on the streets. He briefly tried to reason with the man before excusing himself from the room. Olivia right behind him.

"This case is a mess."

"I know."

There's a knock on the door to Liv's office.

Rafael is the first to speak. "Please tell me you have good news, Rollins."

"We found her."

"Thank God," he said. "Where is she?"

"She is panhandling on the corner of Henry and Grand right now."

"Go," Liv said. "Go get her now before she has the chance to leave."

Rollins nods, quickly leaving the room.

"Happy to be back still?" Liv asked, turning to him.

"You know, when I transferred to Manhattan you reminded me why 18-year-old me wanted to do this job in the first place," he said. "I'd gotten so far into the political game, doing whatever it took to win a case. I just wanted to claw my way up the ladder so to speak."

"And?"

"This, Liv," he said. "This is precisely the reason I wanted to do this."

Unfortunately, the case didn't get any easier over the next couple days.

Olivia shook her head. "This guy was a professor and they are supposed to guide young minds and not destroy them."

"I know, Olivia!" Rafael said. "Believe me. At least you seemed to get through to her."

"That's something," Liv said with a small smile. "Carisi said something about killing him, a similar joke to that which you occasionally make... and well, it just gave me an idea."

"Spontaneous inspiration," he quipped. "That's where my best ideas come from as well."

"Oh, shut it, you!" she said with a snort. "Anyways, I think visiting his grave did her some good."

"I'm sure it did."

They found out that this former professor of Sophie's had raped her. Olivia had taken her on a tour of the school, hoping to jog memories of the attack and break through the mental illness. It worked.

By the end, Sophie remembered everything. She went from not even recognizing herself in a photograph and thinking her parents were dead to having herself back, more or less. But... she was broken and they'd found her back on the streets within hours.

Desperate to do something, Olivia had gone all in, unsurprisingly, to try and counsel her. Thankfully, it had been fairly effective.

"Everything will work out."

"I hope you're right, Rafa."

"I am," he said. "She's a strong girl and she has a lot of support available to her now."

Once the girl realized how bad things were she'd been more than willing to accept some help and support. They all knew the girl was going to need it. She'd been horribly traumatized by the initial attack and then had spent the next three years basically being abused on the regular.

She had a very long fight ahead of her. The father really needed to step up to the plate, however. He seemed willing to, so Rafael was... hesitantly optimistic. Regardless, she had other resources available now too. As long as she put the work in, she had a network of support to lean on.

"Spend the night tonight, Rafa?"

"If you're sure."

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't."

"I'll swing by my apartment than for a change of clothes and meet you there," he said. "It's late, so did you want to order takeout?"

"Chinese?"

"Just don't get any of that weird sauce," he said, causing Liv to laugh.

"I'll make sure to get it on the side," she said. "You're as bad as Noah."

"Hmmmf."

"You're just proving my point there, Rafa," she said, amused.

"I am so tempted to load your son up with sugar right now," he said with a snort.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me," he said with a mischevious glint. "You know how he likes ice cream."

"You have a black black heart, Rafael Barba!" she deadpanned.

He gave her one of his classic smirks. "And it only took you, what, six years to figure that out, Olivia Benson?"

She just shook her head, still amused, and kissed him. "I love you, you crazy man."

"Love you too," he said. "I'll see you in an hour or so."


	24. Chapter 24

Olivia got off the phone, looking rather grim.

She'd already dropped Noah off at school, but neither of them had been called in yet, so they were taking advantage of a few moments of free time to themselves where they weren't rushing about all morning.

Apparently, that was now over. Spectacular.

"How bad?" he said grimly.

"It's bad," she said. "I'm going to go with Fin to the crime scene."

He nodded. "If you need anything, call."

"I will, Rafa." She gave him a kiss, before quickly throwing on her somewhat dressy, black, leather jacket and making her way out the door. "You'll be at the office, I presume?"

"You know me too well." He moved to throw a jacket on himself. "I have a pile of paperwork calling my name and irritating colleagues to avoid."

"Of course you do."

"The paperwork is the gift that just keeps on giving," he said.

She gave a snort. "Well, if it's any consolation, I still think your day will be better than mine."

"Call," he said. "Even if it's just over something stupid. Call."

"I will."

"Promise."

"I promise, Rafa."

He nodded, giving her another kiss. "I'll walk you out to your car."

"Thanks."

Barba sighed, he was exhausted and frustrated. He knew that several of the other ADAs didn't really like him. Sure, they liked his numbers, that he had the highest conviction rate out of all the ADA's they'd ever had. But, _him? _No, they hated him. Now it was outright disrespect and unprofessional actions, unlike before. But he could handle it, he'd lived through worse and thrived from it. He expected this when coming back, but he had hoped it would die down after a few weeks. That the novelty would wear off.

Sometimes he wished that he could go back and stop himself from going to the hospital that day.

Maybe he could have called Liv to get her to call Aaron Householder and bring him to the precinct.

Hell, he could have called the man himself from the safety of his office.

Oh well.

A soft knock on his door alerted him to his surroundings and the fact that he'd been staring at a case file for – he looked at his clock – two hours?! Another, louder, knock turned his attention back and he called out a soft "Come in?"

Carmen poked her head in. "Rafael, Lieutenant Benson just called and said she's been trying to get a hold of you for an hour now. She asked if you were in."

Rafael tensed knowing that Liv was calling about the morning's case. She had said it was bad. If she was calling... "Thanks, Carmen. My phone has been off. I've been going over my current files and didn't want to be interrupted. Do you know what the Lieutenant wants?"

"She said there's a case involving children," Carmen said. "She wants you to go down to the station, but that's all I know."

"Thank you," he said. "I'll call her and let her know I'll be there right away."

"Rough day?"

"Hmm."

"Let me know if Carmichael or Hodges keep giving you a hard time," she said. "I'll hand their asses to them and stick McCoy on them."

"Yes," he said with a snort, "let's get them written up so they hate me even more."

"They're immature."

"I won't argue with that." He paused. "I do appreciate the sentiment, though."

"Anytime," Carmen said. "Now, go to the 16th before your girlfriend has a coronary."

"Alright, alright," he said, amused, and feeling lighter than he had all morning. "Don't burn my office down while I'm gone."

"You wound me, Rafael."

He rolled his eyes as he took his leave.

It seemed that Lady Luck was most decidedly not on his side. When Rafael got to the precinct, it was to find out this case was up there on some of the most horrifying cases he'd seen in all his years as a District Attorney.

There was a little boy named Charlie Mill who was found wandering around outside by a neighbour. The neighbour quickly realized the boy had been stabbed and called for help. The little boy was rushed to the hospital where he later died however he hadn't been the only victim. Both his father and his sister were both stabbed as well. They had died in their beds and so no one would have suspected anything if Charlie hadn't dragged himself out of bed to go find his mother. His mother was apparently a lawyer and she had quickly been notified, in person, that her whole family had been murdered. Carisi was the one that went to her office.

A robbery had quickly been ruled out because there were no signs of forced entry and there were laptops as well as jewelry still at the house.

The detectives had figured that whoever targeted the family was invited in. They asked Anna about enemies and she said there weren't any. Her husband was a writer that worked from home and he was the one that picked up the children when Dolores was busy. Dolores Alverez as it turns out was the nanny. The same nanny that was supposed to be working that day and so the police went looking for Dolores. They checked her apartment and found her bloody clothes as well as a knife that was still wet from having been washed. The police then asked around to see if Dolores had any family and they learned she had a brother named Emilio. The detectives went to go talk to Emilio and as they were talking they saw the door that he was trying to hide.

Emilio had been doing his best to hide his sister. Dolores swore she didn't do anything and that she was only hiding because she knew she would be blamed. The nanny claimed that she went into work like it was a normal day and that she had made breakfast, only no one came down to eat and so she went up to check on them. She said that's how she found the family all brutally stabbed and that she had tried to shake them to see if they would respond. They hadn't and so then she realized that it was her DNA on the victims and even the knife. Dolores claimed she took the knife because she didn't want to be blamed for what happened and she said that's the only reason she hadn't called the police.

While investigating Dolores, they found that she kept a diary in which she claimed Anna didn't deserve her husband or her kids and they were reports from people that knew the family who all said that Dolores was especially close to the husband. The police thought Dolores could have turned against the family if she found her feelings weren't returned or if she had an affair with Julian Mill and he decided to call it quits and so they went about proving their theory.

They investigated Dolores and the Mill family. They found out that the husband did have an enemy. He had gotten into an argument with an old friend of his because they entered an agreement and then Julian Mill backed out of it because of money problems. And so the cops looked into the money problems.

They learned that Julian Mill did have money in a side fund. The fund was reportedly from consulting firm that he owned and it's one and only client was Anna's law firm. The cops checked with the law firm and they hadn't known what Anna was doing.

It seemed that she had been stealing from clients using a dummy fund that she set up and the cops weren't even sure Julian knew about it. That's when everything started pointing to Anna! The cops looked into her to see if maybe she had owed people money and someone decided to get revenge by killing her family though they later found bloody shoes in Anna's trash at work and so they were about to question her about the shoes they'd found.

"You want some coffee?" Fin asked softly.

"No, thank you."

"If you want some later, just let me know," Fin replied.

"Why does everybody keep asking me if I would like coffee?" Anna asked. "My sister, my friends." She paused. "As if coffee will make it go away."

"You know what's not gonna go away?" Fin said, reaching into an evidence box right beside him. "These." He placed the clear evidence bag on the table, putting the shoes in plain sight for Anna. "I found them in your desk at your office."

"I wear them to work. It's easier on the subway."

"Yeah, but, uh, Rachel's blood is on the right one," Fin said. "CSU found a small print by your daughter's bed. It's a perfect match."

"My baby." Anna looked close to tears.

Olivia took a ragged breath as she stepped forwards towards the table where Fin and Anna were seated.

"You killed them didn't you, Anna?" Olivia said in little more than a whisper. "You did this."

"Of course I did this," Anna said in a whisper. Then she seemed to get more control of her voice and spoke louder. "I had to."

"You had to kill your children?" Liv said with a note of disbelief.

"Don't you see?" Anna said pleadingly. "They're so much better off now."

_"All that he did know, all that he would ever know, is the pain that was his so-called life."_

He tried to shake the thoughts away but it didn't work, instead

The lump in his throat grew bigger.

_"Did you confer with him before you hastened the death of his son?"_

_"No"_

_"Do you feel guilty for what you've done?"_

_"Do you feel guilty for what you're doing?"_

_"I'll ask again," Stone asked. "Do you feel guilty for what you've done?"_

_"I did what I thought was right."_

_"Mr. Barba, do you feel guilty, sir?"_

_"I do."_

"Barba!" Rollins repeated, snapping him out of his musings. "Hey, Counsellor." Her voice was one he knew she used with victims. She squeezed his shoulder.

He licked his lips, hands still pulled into fists. How many times had she tried to get his attention? Pulling himself together, he turned to face her. "Did you need something, Detective?"

She was looking at him, concern etched on her face. "You ok?"

"I'm fine," he said. "Let's just get this case over with."

She nodded, not pushing him. Good.

"I'm going to book the arraignment," he said. "Tell Liv to call me if anything else comes up."

"Will do," she said. "Go take a break. You look like you could use it."

"This is a tough case for everyone I think," he said.

"You'll get no disagreement there," she said, "although I won't lie, I'm happy it's not the nanny."

"You prefer it being the mother?" he said dryly.

"Not really, but -"

"I get it, Rollins." He did. He really did.

Hopefully, they would be able to get a court date fast.

Two days later, Rafael had Anna in court. She pled not guilty, her lawyer, William "Billy" O'Boyle, adding that it was by reason of mental defect.

Rafael had quickly asked for remand and a bit of an argument ensued before the judge sided with Rafael and set the bail at $2 million, all cash.

O'Boyle tried to argue that his client's accounts had been frozen because of other ongoing criminal proceedings, and Rafael didn't even try to hide the pleased smirk on his face when Judge Wong, annoyed, stated, "Well, then she certainly has a problem."

Afterwards, O'Boyle stopped Rafael, and, after taking a dig at Rafael, explained that Anna's firm had a satellite office in Chicago and he did some work for Anna and she was a good lady.

He commented on Rafael looking distraught, and Rafael mentioned the three murders, including two innocent children, would do that to a person.

He gave O'Boyle a look of complete disgust before walking off. He needed fresh air. Badly.

He caught Liv's eye on the way out. "Paperwork to do."

"Rough case."

He swallowed the bile in his throat. "I've got to go."

She looked at him searchingly. "Paperwork, right?"

"Hmmm."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Liv, please, just drop it."

"Ok, Rafa." She paused. "But call if you need anything, ok?"

"I promise, Liv." He gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I just need some time to sort out my thoughts."

She nodded. "I get it."

Hopefully, the results of the Psych Eval would work in their favour, but Rafael had a sinking feeling that they weren't going to be so lucky.

That feeling stayed with him until he got called into a meeting with Dr. Abernathy.

The woman was trying to explain everything away and going on about family annihilators and being unable to handle seeing their families suffer.

It all seemed like a bunch of sorry excuses.

"I'm sorry, are you buying any of this?" the lieutenant said, "because to me it sounds like some made-up syndrome cooked up by a defence attorney."

Rafael was saved from replying by Dr. Abernathy. "Bottom line: She believed the murders were necessary even though she knew they were wrong."

Olivia looked at him. "Good, then she's not legally insane."

"Not to us, she's not," he said, "but to a jury -" He shook his head. "O'Boyle's going to have a field day with it, and the jury is going to believe it."

"What can I do?" said Liv.

"Get me something to prove she planned the killing," Rafael said simply.

"Come by tonight," she said.

He nodded, giving her a kiss. "I've got to get back to my office."

"Go finish that paperwork," she said, giving him a small smile.

Rafael couldn't wait for the day to be over.

"She said what?"

Apparently, Olivia had decided to make a trip to the Bronx to speak with Delores Alverez to see if she knew anything that could help them prove that Anna had planned what she'd done. Any indication that it was premeditated.

"Instead of 'Buenas Noches', she said 'Adios.'"

"Adios," Rafael said. "That's very... final. You don't say farewell when you're seeing someone the next day."

"I know," said Liv. "She planned this."

"I know," he said. "And this is a start."

"Anna knew what she was gonna do the night before she did it."

"Look, we're splitting legal hairs here, Liv."

"She planned on killing her family."

"And she deserves to be punished."

"Exactly." She paused. "So, what kind of legal system do we have if a woman like Anna Mill could end up in a hospital and not in prison?"

"I agree, Liv," he said. "And I'm really trying here. This is a start. We just have to hope the jury makes that leap. I'll have to explain the cultural connotation probably, but -"

"I have faith in you, Rafa."

He gave her a sad, sideways, smile. "I don't have much of that in myself at the moment."

"I know," she said, "but you'll get there."

Walking back out into the Squad Room they filled the other detectives in on the results of the evaluation and chatted some about the best way to proceed.

They'd then all went home to call it a night.

Rafael took off alone and headed out for a drink. He had just started a second glass of scotch when two noisy people with a strong Staten Island accents popped up behind him. It took him a moment to realize he knew one of those voices. "Coño."

He took a sip of his scotch, hoping the man in question wouldn't know he was there. He then pushed the glass away and decided to leave.

He was walking out, planning to go home for the night when Carisi put his hand on Rafael's shoulder to stop him. Carisi than gestured for someone who was clearly one of his sisters to go on ahead. He clearly wanted to speak with Rafael. Damn it all.

"Barba."

"Carisi?"

"How are you doing?" he looked around. "Liv here with you?"

"No," he said. "She's at home."

"Hmm," Carisi said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," he said, too quickly.

"Really, Barba?" the younger man said, clearly not believing him.

He sighed. "What do you want me to say, Carisi?"

"We could start with a truthful answer to that question," Carisi suggested. "And how many drinks does that make?"

"Not enough," he said, irritation leaking into his voice.

Carisi shook his head and took a seat right beside where Rafael was standing. "Hey. talk to me."

Rafael took a deep breath. "This case, it hits too close to home. Happy?" He paused. "I thought I'd put it behind me but she's saying things so close to what I said. Different situation, same reasons."

Carisi looked at him. "She's a child murderer."

The words left his mouth before he'd even registered them. "I'm one as well."

Carisi shook his head. "But you're not, Rafael." The detective almost never used Rafael's first name, but using his last name right now seemed so impersonal. It was still a little odd to hear Carisi say it, though.

"How am I not?"

The detective sighed. "Have you been to mass lately?"

He shook his head. "Seeing Father Mike..." He didn't know how to explain how he felt about seeing Father Mike again. He already felt sick with guilt and he really didn't want to face Father Mike's reaction to what he did, as childish as it might seem. He didn't want to see the disappointment.

"Let's go. I'm giving you a ride."

"Where?" Stupid question, he knew full well where the detective was going with this.

"From one Catholic boy to another, this is the sort of thing confessional was made for."

He gave a crooked smile. He did have a point. "Fine. Lead the way, Staten Island."

Carisi just chuckled, leading Rafael out to his parking spot.

The drive to the church was a short one and mostly silent until Rafael said something in Spanish and Carisi couldn't help himself and had to feign offence. Next thing Rafael knew he was mocking the gringo accent when speaking Spanish.

He did learn that Carisi apparently took two years of Spanish in high school. Go figure.

The rest of the drive, he was quieter. There were too many things running through his mind at the moment. He didn't want to go to church. He wanted to go back to having a couple of glasses of scotch and just forget this mess.

That was exactly what had gotten him in trouble last time, though, so somewhat begrudgingly he accepted the younger man's help.

His throat was burning as he stood in front of the church doors. Steadying himself, he walked in making his way to the main part of the church.

"It'll be fine, Rafael," Carisi said, squeezing his shoulder.

"Hmmm."

Mere moments later a man appeared. "Rafael Barba, is that you?"

"Hi, Father Mike," he said, giving the man a sad smile.

Father Mike glanced at Carisi and seemed to immediately put the pieces together. He had to figure that Carisi had mouthed something, but he hadn't particularly been paying attention. Not that it mattered. At the very least, it bought him some more time to gather his thoughts. "Why don't we go somewhere where we have more privacy, Rafael?"

"That might be for the best," he said, trying to keep his voice steady.

The priest led him to a quieter area of the church and gestured for Rafael to take a seat. Feeling quite anxious, he did so.

Apparently, his anxiety hadn't gone unnoticed, however. "Relax, Rafael, okay? You're perfectly safe here, I promise you that."

"I know, Father," he said, "it's just... well... everything."

The priest nodded. "How about we start at the beginning?"

And so, he did. Taking a deep breath, he explained everything that had led up to the events at the hospital that day, where his head had been at, what was going on with the current case, how he felt about what he did, and why the current case was hitting him so hard.

He then listened to Father Mike as he shared his own perspective on the situation, and even ask a few questions. The priest had also given him some advice on dealing with the overwhelming feelings and prayed with him. He'd been shaking for most of it and had ended up crying - which had been a bit embarrassing. By the end of it, however, the guilt, although not gone completely, wasn't nearly as crushing as it had been before. Surprising even himself, he'd actually thanked the detective for making him go when Carisi dropped him off at Liv's apartment, Carisi having texted her. Rafael had also managed to actually get some sleep that night, astonishingly.

The next morning he'd woken up feeling better than he had since the People vs. Mill case began and got ready to go with Olivia to the courthouse. Today was a court day, and Olivia had to testify in front of the Supreme Court.

The lieutenant testified to speaking with Anna after she murdered her family, a point which O'Boyle argued the use of the term murder and that Anna's mental defect prevented Anna from forming intent. The judge sustained the objection. She continued on about how Anna acted, saying she was traumatized, emotional, but sane. She'd also said that she'd been a cop for twenty years and never in her career had she seen anything like this.

She also went on to explain that she thought Anna convinced herself murdering her family was her only choice and reiterated that Anna was not legally insane. Under cross, O'Boyle got her to admit that she wasn't a psychiatrist or psychologist she is just a cop but brings up what Dr. Abernathy had said in her testimony before bringing up the fact that Olivia simply wasn't there when the murder happened and asking about Anna's earlier mental state.

_"What about then? Did she appear to be insane to you then?"_

_"Unfortunately I wasn't there then."_

_"But that's the moment. That's the only moment that matters. Isn't it, Lieutenant?"_

Rafael took a deep breath, leaving the courthouse beside Liv. "I love this job, I do, but sometimes..."

"I know."

"How are you holding up?"

"This woman, Rafa -" she said. "How could a mother do this?"

"You'll drive yourself crazy asking yourself that, Liv." He'd know. He was doing it to himself. Thankfully, he wasn't feeling as down as he had been previously, but he knew they both needed to relax and take their mind off the case.

"I know," she said. "I want to take my mind off this. Pizza night?"

"Wouldn't miss it," he said, leaning in and kissing her cheek. "I have a few errands to run, but then I'll stop by your place."

"I'll see you then."

"Can't wait." He gave her a soft smile as he walked away.


	25. Chapter 25

Back in court, Anna was testifying, being questioned by O'Boyle. She stated she loved her family and wanted to hide them from the ugliness of the world. She grew up in a basement apartment, her family had nothing and had to work for everything she had. Everywhere she looked, in books, magazine, movies, TV, she saw happy, successful women. She had to do it to be perfect. She stated it felt like she was outside of herself when she killed them and watched as another woman stabbed them to save them from the pain and ugliness of a life that just wasn't perfect.

This argument was rather getting on Rafael's nerves.

Thankfully, he hadn't had that large of a caseload lately compared to normal, and he was able to focus on this case more than he might have been able to otherwise. He knew he'd be back to insane amounts of overtime before long, though.

O'Boyle finished questioning her and says, "She was saving them from the pain. From the ugliness of a life that just wasn't perfect."

Shaking his head, Rafael got to up to do his cross-examination.

He cleared his throat. "I'd like you to look at this photo if you don't mind, Mrs. Mill. I know it's hard."

"Objection."

"Withdrawn." He changed the image to another crime scene photo. "The guilt's probably overwhelming."

"Your honour!" O'Boyle called.

"Move on, Mr. Barba."

"So, you testified that it was like watching another woman," Rafael said. "Did you communicate with her at all? Make any attempts to stop what transpired?"

"No."

"Why not?" he asked. "Is it because you wanted them dead?"

"I wanted to protect them. They're better off now."

"You wanted to protect them?"

"Yes."

"From what?" Rafael said. "You said that they are better off now? But better off than what?"

"Well, isn't it obvious?"

"No. It's not, Mrs. Mill," Rafael said. "Be more specific, please."

"Without me."

"So, you messed up and got yourself in deep," Rafael said. "Instead of going to your husband for help, or anyone for that matter, you planned their deaths."

"I didn't plan to hurt them."

"Alright," he said, "then let me ask you this: what does 'Buenas noches' mean?"

"It means, 'Good night.'"

"Exactly." He smirked some. "Can you please tell me what 'Adios' means?"

"It means goodbye."

"In what context?" he inquired.

"Objection!" O'Boyle called. "Irrelevance."

"You'll find it is very relevant, Your Honour." _Please let me do this. I need this line of questioning._

"You may proceed, Mr. Barba, but keep it relevant." The judge looked at Anna. "You may answer."

"It's used when you don't know when you'll see someone again," she explained with a frown.

"And you've known this for a while?"

"My nanny has worked with us for a long time," she said. "She became family, and we all learned some Spanish over the years."

"Thank you." He smirked again. "Can you please tell me what happened when you relieved Miss Alverez that night?"

"When I came home we talked some about the children," she said.

"Can you be more specific?"

"I asked if Rachel had done her homework," she said.

"But you did not mention Julian or Charlie?"

"No."

"Ok," he said, "now walk me through you saying goodnight to Miss Alverez. I want you to use the exact wording, meaning if you used Spanish I want you to use the Spanish. If you used English, use English."

"I said 'Adios' and kissed her goodbye."

"'Adios.' Was this normal for you, Mrs. Mill?" he asked wryly. "If not, what would you normally do?"

"I never usually kissed her and normally I would say 'Buenas noches.'"

"What was different about this particular night?" he asked. "I mean, Miss Alverez hadn't taken any time off. You knew she was scheduled for work the next day."

"I don't know."

"So, it wasn't because you knew she would never be watching your children again?"

"No!"

"You knew the significance of the phrases, and you said farewell," he said. "You then proceeded to let the police believe that it was Miss Alverez who killed your family and only came forward once a pair of your shoes with blood was found."

"I had to protect them."

"You wanted them dead."

"Objection!"

"Nothing more from the people." Pleased with himself, he took a seat.

"Everything has to be perfect," O'Boyle said. "That that is exactly what Anna Mill had in her head." O'Boyle glanced around at all the jury members. "I have to. I have to. I have to!" the defence continued. "I have to go to school, get a job, get married, beget 2.3 children. If I don't, I have failed. What happens to my 2.3 children?"

The defence counsel paused.

"Anna Mill, she heard voices in her head. She heard the voice of her own mother telling her, 'You need to earn money, or the world will eat you and your offspring raw.' She heard Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem telling her, 'You are equal to any man.' She heard Hillary say, 'Aim high, but rely only on yourself.' I have to, I have to, I have to, I - And then what happens when you can't?" O'Boyle paused again. "It's enough to drive you crazy. Crazy. To do what Anna Mill did... You would have to be crazy."

Rafael got up and made his way to where O'Boyle had been standing moments before. "You know, I almost fell into Mr. O'Boyle's trap when he started to talk about feminism. You see, this case, it isn't about feminism. Is it an issue? Certainly. However, that is not what is behind Anna Mill's actions."

He moved closer to the jury, adding just a touch more emotion to his voice.

"This case comes down to one very simple question. 'What was going on in Anna Mill's head when she stabbed her son, her daughter, and her husband?'" He paused. "Did she know what she was doing? She told us she wanted them dead. Did she know it was wrong? She let the police believe her nanny was the murderer."

He threw his hands up in front of him in a pleading gesture.

"That's it. It's that simple. She knew it was wrong and she planned this. It wasn't a moment of insanity. It had been planned days before. She planned this." He shook his head. "Now, I feel for every woman in this courtroom and the completely unrealistic expectations that society holds. However, that does not allow you to kill without consequence. She planned this. She wanted her family dead and put her plan into action. That is all you need to know to convict her of her crimes."

"Like you were convicted of yours?" Anna said.

He had to fight to keep his calm and think of how to undermine the comparison. He couldn't let his choices interfere with the verdict. "Our situations are not comparable. I would also like to remind the court that I am not the one on trial today," he said calmly. "Regardless, I will have to live with my choice for the rest of my life. As will you, yours. You planned the murders well in advance." He took a deep breath. "I also owned up to my mistakes - every step of the way. My question is, can you own up to yours?"

With a shaky breath, Rafael took his seat again.

The judge glanced at Rafael and decided to have pity on him. "Jury will disregard the accused's last remarks. As Counsellor Barba said, this isn't his trial." The judge gave Rafael a quick nod of the head. "The jury will now deliberate."

Now came the fun part. The waiting.

"You did well back there, Rafa!" Liv said. "That was a good cross. You handled the comments about your trial well too. Now, no matter what the jury decides, you did your job."

"Thanks, Liv," he said. "Let's just hope the jury agrees on a verdict sooner rather than later and the comment didn't do too much damage."

"Agreed."

Despite their hopes, the jury had a hard time deliberating and kept popping out to say that they were deadlocked. It wasn't the longest wait he had had yet, so he wasn't too concerned. However, the longer it went on, the worse the outcome usually. It meant the jury members were struggling.

Finally, after about five hours of deliberation, the jury called for the court to reconvene.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?"

"We have, Your Honour."

Rafael licked his lips nervously.

"On the first count of the indictment of murder in the second degree of Charles Mill, we find the defendant guilty." A wave of relief hit him. "On the second count, murder in the second degree of Rachel Mill, we find the defendant guilty." Yes! "On the third count of the indictment, murder in the second degree of Julian Mill, we find the defendant, Anna Mill, guilty."

Immediately, the court proceedings wrapped up and everyone started to file out.

He walked over to O'Boyle. "You win some and lose some, Counsellor. Better luck next time."

O'Boyle shook his head, amused. "Some things never change, Rafael. I have to say, I'm impressed you came back here. More courage than I would give most people, even myself, credit for."

"Coming back wasn't actually planned," Rafael said dryly. "I came back for an event for a friend's son, and things just sort of happened."

"Still, after what you did -"

"As lovely as this chat is, I do have other commitments," he deadpanned. "I'll be taking my leave."

"Foot in mouth," O'Boyle said.

Rafael rolled his eyes. "Not for the first time, William."

"Good day, Counsellor."

Rafael gave a curt nod and watched the man walk away. He then glanced to see where the quad was, his mind racing. "En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del espíritu santo," he said under his breath, as he crossed himself, before walking over to Liv and the squad.


	26. Chapter 26

Feeling good, he threw on a pair of black pants and an almost cherry red, crewneck sweater. He then threw on a black blazer and looked at himself in the mirror. He quickly redid his hair and then checked himself over again.

Perfect.

They had just wrapped up another case. One that had been particularly messy and meant he had had to deal with Hodges more than he preferred.

The ADA had caught all three prior cases that Manhattan SVU had connected to this but had declined to prosecute - each time. He hadn't been too helpful when Rafael talked to him either. Well, look, I hope you fare better than I did.

Fin had called Hodges a 'Boy wonder' prosecutor. Which wasn't exactly inaccurate.

Hodges was big in the Me Too movement and ran some sort of victims advocacy group. Rumour mill also said the man had been gunning to run for Kings County DA.

_"Well, he made a name for himself busting a Russian sex trafficking ring," Liv said. "They even tried to kill him. But a garden variety prosecution of Liebowitz? - This is a no-brainer."_

_"Until you get an acquittal," Rafael said, "and that's all people remember."_

And that was the crux of why Hodges hadn't prosecuted.

She knew it. They both knew it.

Anyways, the case was a mess from the start and only got worse.

As it turned out Hodges hadn't been as clean as appearances lead one to think.

Despite being an advocate for women's rights, Hodges had deliberately covered for his high-school friend, Andrew Liebowitz. They hadn't realized, at first, that the men had been friends.

Hodges had eventually got caught comparing his and Liebowitz's assaults during a sting operation, so both men were arrested.

Once that nightmare of a case was over, his mother had offered to babysit Noah for a few hours, and they'd taken her up on her offer for tonight. They'd met more than a few times now, and had hit it off, so both he and Liv were comfortable leaving Noah with her. Well, he would have been regardless, but neither Olivia or Noah had really known her, which was rapidly changing.

They'd gone to another one of Noah's ball games, visited with his mother briefly, and went their separate way to get ready for tonight.

In any case, he was looking forward to tonight. He was taking Olivia out for dinner and then to see Company.

He smiled when he remembered her reaction to him leaving to go see Hamilton during the early part of the whole Sister Nina and Father Eugene debacle. Neither had said anything stupid yet, particularly him, so they'd still been on very good terms - for a few days at least.

_"Good luck," he said, giving her his signature smirk, with his eyes still on the interrogation that was happening._

_"Wait?" She glanced at him, taking her attention away from the interrogation room. "Where are you going?"_

_"Theatre." He turned towards her now. "Text me if you make sense of this mess before Burr kills Hamilton."_

_He started walking away._

_She sighed. "Send them my love!"_

He knew she'd probably thought him a pretentious idiot... well, given her comment about him and a yacht, he knew she did, to some degree. He couldn't find it in himself to be offended though. Her little digs were actually rather amusing.

He was an avid theatre fan, though, so was happy when she expressed interest in going to see a show. He'd pointed out a few ones that looked good, and let her pick from there. They'd finally managed to find a time that actually worked, given the insanity of their work schedules... Although, he had a feeling his mother would have shown up at his house and kicked him out if he'd waited much longer to actually go 'have fun.'

His mother could be a little pushy.

Well, he had to get it from somewhere, he supposed.

Taking one last look over, he grabbed his things and headed out the door.

"You really had to choose _Per Se_, didn't you?" she said.

"If you want, we can go to Forlini's or Victor's even," he said. "I don't mind."

"You're spoiling me," she said. "I hope you know that."

"Am not," he said. "You deserve a nice night out every once in a while, Cariño."

"You're a charmer, you know that?"

"So I've been told," he said with a grin.

"Take your daughters to work day?" she said, doing a decent impression of him.

"Okay, I did not sound like that."

She shook her head, amused. "Yes, you did. And that was right after the captain informed me that you have a... big brass ego."

"Perfect," he said. "Just perfect."

"We forgave your arrogance a long time ago," she said with a laugh. "You did actually put your money where your mouth was."

"When I'm good, I'm good!" he said with a chuckle.

She rolled her eyes. "Proving my point there, Rafa."

"Shall we go in?"

"Lead the way, Mr. Big Brass Ego."

"You wound me, Liv." He didn't make even the slightest attempt at disguising the mirth in his voice.

They were, thankfully, seated at a corner booth with a window. It meant that they got privacy and a view.

Perfect.

"Hello, I am Allison, and I'll be your server today. What can I get you or did you need more time?"

"I think we could use a few minutes," Rafael said. "Thank you."

"Of course," the waitress said. "I'll just get you both started with water."

As the meal went on they chatted about different shows that Rafael had seen and he explained that he'd seen the show before, albeit with a different cast, and thought that it was quite good, if a little on the sitcom side.

They also talked about Rafael's early career and what he was like as a teenager. He'd just finished telling a rather elaborate story about him and one of his misadventures at school.

"Well, I can believe it," she said with a laugh. "You've been headstrong, no-nonsense, Mr. Chatty as long as I've known you."

He smirked. "I believe the term you are artfully avoiding is 'little shit.' And yes, I was one." He laughed. "Still am, in fact. My mother always says I was born contrary."

"Did you take a foreign language or did you get it waved?"

"My school was all children of cuban parents," he said, taking another bite. "Most of our teachers were hispanic as well."

"Meaning?"

"Spanish was our first language," he explained, "so, we were studying Spanish the same way we were English. Both languages simultaneously."

"Interesting. A good aproach, though."

"In many ways," he said. "I had a great teacher, and my Spanish literature class was one of my favourites, actually. Of course, outside of Spanish class, in class, English was encouraged. Not that we didn't constantly use Spanish in the halls with each other."

She nodded. "I can see that. Why speak a foreign language when everyone around you already speaks yours?"

"Exactly," he said, "and frankly, half our classes were in Spanish. The teachers would go back and forth or have a really strong accent when speaking English. Now, Eddie, he really struggled to learn English because of that. So little exposure as well as little opportunity to practice it outside of class." Olivia nodded. "I caught on fast enough though, and helped him. Eventually, he picked English up as well."

She drank the last of her wine. "You're a good friend."

"Sometimes," he said, waving the comment off. "Carisi tried to convince me that two years of - he put on his best American accent, butchering a simple Spanish phrase - counted him as fluent."

"When was this?"

"During the case with that nanny and mother," he said. "He found me at Forlini's drunk."

"Ah, I remember that."

"Yeah, I spoke Spanish to him and then apologized, repeating it in English. He got mock offended saying he'd taken two years of it in high school. Drunk me didn't have a filter."

"Sober you barely has a filter," she said.

"Fair enough," he said, "but if you're teaching the language, at least know how to role your rs."

"You're impossible," she said with a laugh.

He shrugged, amused. "So I've been told." He checked the time. "Shall we head to the theatre?"

"Lead the way," she said, getting up and grabbing her bag. "I can't wait to see what all the hype is about."

"Duly noted."

"So, is it as horribly cheesy as it sounds?"

He feigned offence. "I'll have you know, Company is a masterpiece. And I am going to pretend I didn't just hear you insult Stephen Sondheim."

She shook her head, amused. "Let's go, Rico Suave."

He just huffed playfully before going up to pay and finally making their way to the theatre.

He hoped the rest of the night would go just as well.


	27. Chapter 27

So, the plan to get Noah eating more vegetables wasn't going well, to say the least. The boy spent a good amount of time just staring at his plate, analyzing it with a level of scrutiny Rafael could only describe as... 'prosecutor tries to win a bad case with a high-profile defendant, an unreliable witness and little supporting evidence.'

All of this was over a salad of all things.

Had he given his mother as much grief when he was younger? He sighed, watching the scene. Probably.

"What are these black things?" Noah asked,

"They're olives," Olivia said, looking at her son.

"Yuck."

"Okay, you can push them aside," she said, not wanting to start a fight with her son, "but Noah, remember, we talked about this. Remember we talked about it being time for you to start trying and eating new things?"

The boy whined again. "I want pizza!"

"Okay, well maybe tomorrow night," Olivia replied, "but, for now, how 'bout we eat tonight's dinner? Try it. You're gonna like them. They're great."

Noah took one and quickly spit it out.

"Hey, Noah!" Liv's voice had risen a bit out of shock.

Noah slammed his hands down on the table and pushed his plate away. "I want pizza."

Olivia looked at Rafael as if to say, "Sorry about this." Noah wasn't usually difficult so he had a feeling she was slightly embarrassed about the scene Noah was making.

Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the boy. Normally he didn't intervene with Liv's parenting as it wasn't necessarily his place, but he couldn't just leave her hanging either. If she got upset with him, he'd deal with it later. "We don't slam things, ok, Noah? And besides, your mom is right. They're yummy. She made a really good salad." He made a show out of taking an olive and eating one. "So good." He paused. "Do you think you can apologize to mommy and try a bit more of your dinner?"

"Fine," Noah grumbled. "Sorry, Mommy."

"Forgiven," she said, "but Rafa is right, Noah. It's not nice to hit or slam things, ok? Now, can you eat a little more, Sweet Boy?"

"Ok." Not thrilled, but feeling more cooperative, he started picking at his food, starting to eat.

"Hmm." Rafael thought for a minute before rummaging around Olivia's kitchen, he then walked to the fridge, grabbed some garlic and started cutting it up. He had to rummage around the apartment some more before finding the new metal garlic press he'd bought. "Por el amor de mi cordura..."

"What was that?" Liv asked, shaking her head.

"Nothing, Liv."

"Uh-huh." With a smile, placing the knives in the sink, away from Noah, he walked over. The Bensons both watched as he mixed the garlic with the olives.

"But. Uncle Rafa -"

"Try it, Noah."

Hesitantly, Noah tried it and they both watched as Noah's eyes light up. "Can I have more, por favor, Uncle Rafa?"

"Of course. Claro que sí, Mijo," he said. He blinked, realizing what he just called the little boy. Noah didn't seem to understand, but from the look on Liv's face, she'd caught it as well. Quickly recovering before Noah could figure out something was off, he threw more of the garlic paste on Noah's plate. It wasn't that the term was exclusively used as such in Spanish, but he'd never called Noah that. It was the reason for the switch that caught him off guard more than anything else. "Normally these are marinated, but you really didn't give me time, Compay."

"They're good."

It didn't take long after that before all their plates were cleared, Noah's included, and they were digging into ice cream.

Eventually, Noah ran off to have a shower.

"You're a God amongst men right now," she said with a snort. "How the hell -"

"I'm Cuban," he said with a laugh. "The country of plantains and other weird yet extremely delicious food combinations. Just mix the vegetables with other stuff he likes."

"You're really good with him, you know?" she said. "It still amuses me how you held him the first time, though. It was like a bomb was going to go off. I thought you were going to have a panic attack."

"I see you've brought the jokes."

She quirked an eyebrow at her words being thrown back at her. "Story for the ages," she said.

"My God," he said, exasperated. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Not a chance in hell," she said with a laugh.

He rolled his eyes.

"I mean it though," she said. "You really _are _good with him."

"He's a good kid."

"He is," she agreed fondly. "You're good for him though."

"Hmmm." He paused, looking introspective. "How do you feel about disclosing, Liv?"

"Do you think it'll cause you any issues?" she asked.

"No," he assured her. "My actions have been above reproach, and between you and I... well, let's say a little birdie may have hinted that McCoy may already know something is going on between us."

"And when did the little birdie say this?"

"Before I got the call about transferring back to SVU," he said.

"Ah. You have a matchmaker for a boss then."

He snorted. "And a nosy administrative assistant. Although, I'm not complaining."

She shook her head, amused. "Let's do it then. I'll meet with IAB tomorrow afternoon."

"And I'll go deal with McCoy."

"Perfect."

He pulled her in for a deep kiss.

He didn't care if he would have to transfer again or if he was under more scrutiny. Being here with Liv and Noah felt right, and as much as that scared him sometimes, he wasn't walking away. Even if he did have to transfer, it'd be fine. It'd be worth it.

He couldn't pinpoint the moment he'd fallen for Liv, but he knew he had and he'd fallen hard. He'd told his mother as much that morning when he, his mother, and Olivia had breakfast together. _"But, this is different, Mamì. This is it for me. Even if she realizes she can do better than me and leave I won't be bringing anyone else home. Para mí, es ella o nadie más." (For me, it's her or nobody else.)_

He was so far past the point of no return and he found he didn't mind in the slightest.

_Somebody, crowd me with love_

_Somebody, force me to care_

_Somebody, make me come through_

_I'll always be there, as__ frightened as you_

_To help us survive_

_Being alive_

Those lyrics had taken on a whole new meaning for him.

They pulled apart. "Let's continue this later, mi vida, hmm?"

"Sounds good to me, Love!" she said. "A certain young boy will probably be out any minute."

As if right on cue Noah came running out, already dressed in his pyjamas. "Can you read me a story, Uncle Rafa?"

"Of course," he said. "Let's go pick out a book."

Noah kissed her goodnight and then quickly made his way down the hall, and Olivia watched as the two boys walked away, unable to wipe the grin off her face.

About a half-hour later, Rafael came out of the room.

"How is he?"

"He passed out cold before we found out if Annie and Jack become popsicles or master librarians," he drawled. "The answer shall be haunting me all night."

"How cruel of him," she said in jest. "I'm sure, however, that you'll survive until tomorrow. We both know he'll be requesting your services again. I swear, he likes you reading better than me. It's got to be the voices."

"Oh, undoubtedly," he said. "I do a fantastic polar bear impression."

"Oh, I believe it."

Suddenly her phone rang and she saw the call display. She groaned. "So, my man of many talents, I have a feeling you'll be babysitting tonight."

"Work?"

"It's Fin," she confirmed.

"Go call him back," he said, kissing her on the cheek. "I'll be here when you get home."


	28. Chapter 28

The call from the night before ended up with Liv coming home quite late, as Rafael had predicted. She had had to meet a victim at the hospital and once the testimony was done and they'd started the case, everyone finally went home to try and get some sleep.

It had meant that both he and Liv had to be into work early to get this investigation going because, and old habits die hard, Hudson University was once again going to prove to be a difficult adversary.

Knowing it would be a long day, he'd purposefully woken up earlier than her and snuck out of bed to make her something to eat as well as some coffee. He'd then gently woken her up and then gave her the breakfast in bed. She'd been surprised, but the look of awe in her eyes had been worth it a thousand times over.

Now, he didn't expect Hudson to do anything but close ranks, as usual. He was actually counting on it actually because if he could prove the cover-up or the fact that the school was blocking efforts he'd have sufficient leverage to force cooperation.

He'd been able to go to work a bit later than Olivia, thankfully, which meant he'd been able to walk and drop Noah off at school instead of them having to call Lucy. Not that the young woman would likely mind, but still. Plus, he enjoyed the quality one-on-one time with Noah that it gave him.

Nonetheless, the second Noah was in class, he had had to run to work. The difficult part would be actually proving their efforts, but he'd done it in the past. It wasn't his first time up against Hudson. He was fairly certain it would be his last either. The school never seemed to learn.

Their sexual assault response policy was, frankly, abhorrent.

His talk with McCoy had gone well, and, as suspected, McCoy had pointed out he'd more or less just been waiting for this conversation. He had assured Rafael that as neither his or Olivia's conduct had been anything but professional at work that, as long is it remained that way, he saw no reason to transfer him. He'd also said congratulations, which although made Rafael blush some, was appreciated.

He had no idea what he'd done to deserve someone like Liv but he'd never been happier.

When he talked to Olivia immediately after the meeting she said that IAB had said essentially the same thing to her.

Basically, they would be watched for misconduct, but for the time being, both would remain where they were. Both were rather pleased with the outcome, to say the least. They enjoyed working together and were quite happy for it to remain that way for the foreseeable future.

Now he was back at the 16th having just finished watching an interrogation of this athlete that was found with a 21-year-old girl that had been assaulted behind a dumpster at a fraternity party. Not that they had gained much of anything useful. The suspect was far from the brightest human being on the planet, however, and wasn't even trying to cover up the fact that he'd had sexual contact with the victim and intended to go farther.

He claimed he had had her verbal consent however and gave a weak excuse about throwing up.

Thankfully, there were two international students who interrupted the assault. The witnesses would be playing a huge part in Rafael's case, and both had made it crystal clear that they would testify in a heartbeat for the poor woman.

The victim was still traumatized though. Another upper-class jock treating women like property and likely to get away with it, if Hudson had any say. How such a backwards attitude still subsisted was beyond him. It was egregious.

Between that and the DNA, they were well on their way to building a very strong case.

"He's a piece of work," Rafael said.

"I know," Olivia said. "At least we have the two other witness."

"Among other things," he said with a nod. "I'm going to move forward with the indictments."

"Plural?"

"I'm going to bury the guy," Rafael said. "I'm thinking rape of an intoxicated person, rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration by a foreign object of an unconscious woman, sexual penetration by a foreign object of an intoxicated woman, and assault with intent to commit rape."

"Heavy charges, Counsellor," Carisi said, as the rest of the team walked up.

"The more charges I throw at this guy the more likely one will stick," Rafael said simply. "I want him behind bars."

"He's going to argue it's consensual," Carisi pointed out.

"Let him," Rafael said, sporting his signature smirk. "Between the intoxication and unconsciousness, as well as witnesses, I will have him buried so deep that he won't know which way is left."

"And then there is the boyfriend," Rollins added.

"Exactly," Rafael said. "He's an unrepentant rapist who is going to get away with this if we don't go hard. He has his athletic charm and daddy's money. Hudson won't make it easy either." He paused. "So, two charges for rape, two for felony sexual assault, and one for attempted rape. I am going to throw the book at this guy. Even if I am forced to drop a charge or two -"

"Believe me, man," said Fin, "all of us are on your side with this. He has it coming."

He nodded. "Get a rush on the results of the DNA tests. That'll be crucial to how I proceed."

"On it, Counsellor!" Carisi chirped, heading over to the phone to make that call.

"What else can we do, Barba?" Fin asked.

"You can get me everything on the two witnesses," he said. "I need them completely vetted. I want no surprises. Besides that, anything else you can get me. The more evidence and information the better. Given the optics and the fact that this is a first offence, we could very well end up with a judge sympathetic to the boy's plight. I don't want a repeat of the Evie Barnes debacle. Frankly, I'm still irritated with Judge Briggs."

The jury had found the defendant guilty, but during sentencing, the judge had set aside the jury's guilty verdict upon a motion by Counsellor Buchanan. It had been the last straw for Evie who'd just completely given up and it had infuriated Rafael to no end that the judge thought it was ok to rape blame and give permission to others to assault someone based on their sexual history. He'd filed for appeal but that had gone nowhere given Evie had thrown the towel in.

"You seem determined," Olivia said.

"Hand me a bat."

Jack McCoy wanted him to show the department what he was made of? Good. He was going to go at this case with everything he had.


	29. Chapter 29

As promised, Rafael hadn't pulled any punches during this case, and he and Calhoun ended up in a paperwork war. Calhoun was trying to keep him out of the courtroom to buy herself more time, and the pile of paperwork was driving Rafael insane.

Still, he pulled a lot of overtime and made sure to double and triple-check everything. Every single document and signature. He wasn't going to let his exhaustion make him submit paperwork with an error that would allow her to appeal his case due to a paperwork technicality.

She was probably hoping for that, though. That he'd make a simple, rather stupid, mistake and not notice.

Although the People vs. Miller arraignment didn't go as well as Rafael would have liked, it was still workable and better than it could have been. Chase Miller was released the same day after he'd posted a $150,000 bail. The father hadn't hesitated to pay the boy's way out. Miller had, unsurprisingly, pleaded not guilty to all five charges. Rafael had been forced to drop two rape charges after reviewing the results of the DNA tests, but there were still several other charges he was determined to make stick.

Liv hadn't been thrilled about the bail, neither had he, but as he told Liv, they were just lucky they didn't get ROR. The judge was at least taking the charges seriously and actually saw merit in the case. That was good.

About two weeks later, Miller had finally been convicted of the three remaining charges of felony sexual assault.

Rafael hadn't hesitated to request a 14-year sentence and that the boy be put on the registry. Calhoun had tried to get Miller down to six years, but Judge Brown, a new appointee, apparently had a young daughter and, thankfully, didn't buy into the drama surrounding the case. They had, thankfully, been able to keep the girls' name out of it.

The media was all over it, loud parties claiming that it wasn't fair to ruin the boy's life over a few seconds of action.

That comment, from one of Miller's relatives, had been particularly revolting.

Rafael shook his head.

The boy deserved what he got. He damned himself with his own choices. What of the woman's life he'd ruined?

"Congratulations, Counsellor!" Rollins said, echoing her words from their very first case together.

"Good jury," he said with a smirk. "They looked past Miller's image, saw him for who he really is."

With a highly pleased, cocky, smirk on, he walked down the courthouse steps towards the media frenzy. "All right, guys. Just a few moments."

Rollins and Olivia shared an amused look.

"I never thought I'd miss that cocky smile so much," Rollins said.

"Seeing him breakdown at his trial was horrid," Liv said. "I understood why he left, even if I didn't like it. The trial broke him. I'm just so glad he's back."

"It's really good to see you so happy, Liv," she said. She then glanced over at Rafael who was chattering away for the reporters. They were eating him up which was a good sign. Thankfully, the 'Baby-killer-ADA' headlines seemed to be dying out. They'd been a dime a dozen at the start of this case, but Rafael had started purposefully putting himself in the media and using the frenzy to his advantage. That was really the only way to change their perceptions of him; to interact with them. "Him too."

"He called Noah 'Son' a few weeks ago."

"Did he?" Rollins asked.

"Yes," she said. "He seemed as surprised as I was when it came out of his mouth."

She had been surprised but was happy that Noah was as close to Rafael as the young boy was.

Since school started, Noah'd been difficult. Issues with homework or other things, like the little olives incident.

She'd been frustrated one night, and Rafael had pulled her aside, saying all kids go through phases and to take a deep breath.

He'd then went and hung out with Noah, distracting him unto he'd calmed down enough to he reasonable again.

He really was great with him.

"I can't say I'm surprised, Liv." When Liv looked slightly confused, she elaborated. "It's clear as day how he feels about you and he came back here for Noah's game. He cared a lot about Noah, even then. Since then he's spent a lot of time around you and Noah and helping you look after him. Of course, his parental side is going to come out. Although, I do admit at being shocked at first at how well he did with Noah."

"Once Noah wasn't a baby anymore you mean," she said with a laugh. "The poor guy."

Rafael groaned, having just walked up. "You told Rollins about my holding Noah for the first time, didn't you?"

"Don't feel bad, Counsellor," Rollins said, not even trying to hide her amusement at the situation. "You got the hang of it eventually." She looked at them both. "Y'all up for the zoo this Saturday? Jesse wants a playdate with Noah, and I know Noah's been asking for the same."

"Sure," Olivia said. "Rafa?"

"It works for me," he said. "Oh, I forgot to mention that Mami invited us to lunch on Sunday after mass."

"Tell your mom that Noah and I will meet you two at her place then," she said. She already knew that Rafa would be attending mass with his mother. He had stopped for a while but had been attending regularly again for a while now. Noah also attending fairly often, by Noah's own request. If Noah asked, she was more than happy to let him accompany Rafael. She figured it would be good for Noah to learn about it and be able to make his own decision later in life.

She had been forced to direct all questions to Rafael, however, as she didn't always know how best to answer Noah's questions. She had sat down with Rafael, however, and discussed what she thought was age-appropriate among other things. Just to make sure they were on the same page for Noah's sake. She was hardly an expert on the Catholic faith herself, but Rafael had grown up in the church. He didn't have any issues explaining things to Noah when questions arose. And there were plenty. Noah was definitely a curious little boy; always had been.

"How about I go to my office, get my files, and take them home. I can work from home the rest of the day and then we can take Noah out for a celebratory dinner?" he said with a grin.

"Get him that pizza he wanted?" Liv says with a raised eyebrow, amused.

"Of course," he said with a smirk. "I can't think of a better time for pizza."

"Hmm," she said, "only if I get to pick the dessert."

His eyes sparkled with mischief. "Oh, I already know what I want for dessert."

"You're incorrigible," Olivia said.

"Oh, I know," he said, grinning wickedly.

"Hey, Lovebirds, y'all just going to stay here all afternoon or what?" Rollins said with an amused shake of the head.

"Let's go," he said, amused, "before I do something the media will really have a field day over."

Olivia shook her head, smiling.


	30. Chapter 30

"Hey, Carmen," he said. "Here you go. Almond milk, no sugar."

"Ah, you're the best, Rafael."

"It's the least I could do," he said. "Can we go over the schedule quickly?"

He was really thankful to have her right now. She somehow managed to keep up with the disaster that was his schedule right now, and he really needed that at the moment. His schedule was a mess since he'd upped his caseload.

The cold weather was also slowing creeping in, so he figured she could use a warm drink. There wasn't snow yet, but the weatherman called for it towards the end of the week.

"Of course," she said. "Nothing's changed today except that at two Jack McCoy would like you to make sure you're available to talk. Oh, and Defence Counsel would like to talk to you about the James case as well and will be in around four. He left a message for you this morning."

"Did he say what about?"

"No, sorry."

"It's fine," he assured her. He honestly didn't think it was anything to be concerned about. "I can handle the DA. And there is another meeting today that was moved to tomorrow, yes?"

"Precisely. And your court date for the Garcia misdemeanour is moved back a week."

"Brilliant," he said sarcastically. "So, even more overtime. Well, if I can't plead it out, that is."

"Good luck with that."

He really would like to plead at least a couple of his cases out. He'd pulled 30 hours of overtime last week as it was, not for the first or last time, which royally sucked. He was used to doing extraordinary amounts of overtime, but before he hadn't had someone to go home to. He wanted more time with Liv and Noah.

Ah, well, that's why weekends were invented, he supposed.

"Remind me why I volunteered to cover for Hardwicke while she's off?"

The prosecutor was off on leave and cases had been dispersed to a couple other prosecutors. Some cases has remained, however, as several other ADAs commented that they had their plates too full. Rafael had offered to take the remaining cases, but was starting to regret it.

Almost. The reality was anything that would make him look good to the higher ups was fair game.

Her mother was also quite ill, however, and she was trying to help her mother who was in a similar situation to the one Abuelita had been in. He sympathized.

She rolled her eyes. "Because somewhere deep, deep, deep down, el Tiburón, you actually have a heart."

"It would seem so," he said wryly. "How unfortunate. But, seriously... misdemeanours... they are so boring."

"You'll survive," she said with an amused shake of the head.

He sighed. "So, if memory serves there is a ton of paperwork with my name on it. I should probably go try and get some done before all hell breaks loose."

"Well, have fun. I have some of my own to do." She then reached into a folder. "Here's your updated schedule."

"Thank you, Carmen."

After a quick acknowledgement, she headed back to her desk, leaving him to go to his office.

Taking a sip of his coffee, and making himself comfortable at his desk, he picked the top file sitting there and started going through his caseload.

In a way, it was a mind-numbing task, so it was easy for Rafael to find himself lost in the paperwork and not even noticing how much time had past. His attention had only been taking away from his paperwork when Carmen had poked her head into the office pointing out the time.

"Now's a good time to go grab some lunch."

"Is that an order?"

"No, it's just a very tempered suggestion."

"Tempered suggestion," he scoffed.

She just smiled.

He huffed. "Fine." He gave her a small smile. "I'll be back shortly."

"Take a break or I'll have Benson arrest you."

"Oh joy." He looked at her. "I won't eat at my desk, but I can't just take off for an hour."

"At least take a short break," she said.

Rolling his eyes at her, he closed his files, got up and threw his blazer on. "Fine. Enjoy your lunch. You said you're going out with your sister?"

"Yes," she said. "Seana's here on a work trip, so we figured we'd make the most of it."

"Then what are you still doing here?" he said, giving her a small smile. "Or do I have to call security?"

"Very funny," she said, giving him an eye roll of her own. "But I do think I'll take my own advice and go grab my jacket."

"You do that." And with that, he chucked his empty coffee cup in the garbage and headed outside, only stopping to quickly text Liv while in the elevator to see if they were still on for dinner.

He actually wanted to talk to her about 'officially' moving in, as half of his stuff was at her place anyways. He was almost always there, and honestly, the days when he did go back to his apartment usually sucked. It just felt so... well, lonely. When he was there he would just find himself missing what was starting to feel like his family. It seemed silly to keep an apartment that he'd only use a couple of times a week, in any case.

Unfortunately, they were both so busy with work today and her lunch was going to be a bit later that day, which meant he would likely not see her until tonight unless he was called in for another case. Oh well. He'd see her tonight for dinner and they could chat then.

He'd definitely be bringing work home with him tonight, though.

Making his way down the main road, shivering slightly from the cold, he spotted a sandwich shop and bought a BLT and a coffee. He quickly ate, bought himself a chocolate bar and a bottle of water from a corner store and made his way back to his office.

Once back in his office, he threw the snack and drink in a drawer for later, checked the time, and decided to get back to work on the pile of paperwork that he had sitting in front of him. He loved being in the courtroom, but honestly, he could do without so much paperwork.

It didn't take long before he found himself once again so absorbed in the paperwork that he didn't even notice the time pass.

He was slightly shocked when there was a knock on his office door and he realized it was already time for his meeting with McCoy.

"Lazy as always, I see, Rafael," his boss said with an amused shake of the head. "Some things never change."

"I apologize profusely, sir!" he said wryly. "I'll ask Defence Counsel to send more paperwork at their earliest convenience."

At that McCoy just laughed. "You know, people never believe me when I say you of all people have a sense of humour."

He just smirked. "That's perfect for me. Keeps people on their toes."

McCoy shook his head. "You really are something else."

"So I've heard," he quipped. "Anyway, what was it you wanted to discuss?"

"DA Davis is intending to step down in May. He isn't up for reelection."

"I'm aware," he said, somewhat confused. "What does that have to do with me? I don't even work for Kings County."

"It means pieces are being moved around the board," the man said simply. "EADA Lee has requested a lateral transfer to Kings County - on top of it all - for political reasons."

"Can you please get to the point, Sir?" he said, not unkindly.

"I mean, by May's end, I will need a new Executive ADA for Sex Crimes." He then looked at Rafael pointedly. "If you continue doing what you're doing - phenomenal job lately, by the way - the position is yours."

"Seriously?" he said, surprised.

"I've never been more serious."

There was a lump in his throat. "Thank you."

"More than well earned. Now, how about you fill me in on your set of the Hardwicke cases?"

"Of course," he said, and with that, he was off recounting the current information he had with as much detail as possible to his boss.

This was going to be a very long day.


	31. Chapter 31

He was definitely out of his mind. There was no other explanation for him finding himself at his mother's about to ask something that mere years ago he would have said was never going to happen.

They - Noah, Olivia and himself - had been invited for dinner at his mother's.

They'd all been busy - and he and Liv, with moving - and work, so he hadn't seen her as much as either of them may have liked. It would have been worse if they hadn't had a significant amount of help moving, which had been appreciated to no end. God knows they needed it.

Liv and he had moved into a rather nice - three bedroom, two bath - townhouse a little over a week ago. They'd been considering it for a while and the place they found wasn't terribly far from Noah's school - PS199. Noah had only started at the primary school the previous year, so they hadn't wanted to force him to change yet again. It was only a fifteen-minute walk compared to the previous ten. The move also meant Noah had a small yard to play in, which the boy was excited about. As for the third bedroom, it had had quickly been made into a study for Rafael.

They all, even Noah, were quite happy with the move. Noah made friends with two of the neighbours' kids almost immediately, which was great. Then there was just the aspect of them all having more room. Plus, there was just something about them finally taking that step together.

Then some things Noah had said had got him thinking, and, now here he was.

He figured that now was as good a time as any to get the conversation with his mother over and done with. It wasn't that he was nervous exactly, but he just hoped his mother wouldn't make a big deal out of it.

"Bueno, I was wondering... ¿todavía tienes el anillo de Abuelita?"

"Her ring?" she said, looking up from the dishes she was washing. He was about to open up his mouth to speak when a smile formed on her face. He could see the comprehension forming in her eyes.

"¿No puedes decir eso tan fuerte, por favor?" he said. He really wanted her to not be so loud. "She'll hear you."

"Estará bien!" his mother replied, waving his concerns off. "Y sí, lo tengo. ¿Cuándo le preguntarás?" (It'll be fine. And yes, I have it. When are you planning to ask?)

"Nochebuena," he said. "Our family will be here, and -"

He'd gotten a handful of plane tickets for some relatives back in Santa Clara, all of whom had never been to visit. It had taken more than a bit if bureaucracy to make happen, but wasn't too bad overall.

Rafael had visited Cuba, doing various volunteer work, even bringing his mother once, several times several times since the situation in Cuba had changed. He figured it would be nice to celebrate a holiday together.

Rafael had done some volunteer legal aid with a program connected to cuban immigration services as well as well as legal aid with a program aimed at helping at risk women and children.

His mother had never truly been able to bring herself to go with him. Not wanting to step foot in Cuba until it was truly free. Which he completely understood, and wasn't about to treat any of like some silly vacation. Going had been a rather emotional thing for him as well. It had been so surreal in many ways.

Still, they'd worked together to get him the addresses of some of his relatives in Santa Clara and he'd finally met them in person. They'd talked over the phone - when able - over the years and exchanged letters and photos, but staying in contact had been a challenge.

Noah thought it was brilliant and became a lot more enthusiastic then he was before about picking up Spanish. His accent wasn't too bad either. He had little doubt he could make a fluent speaker out of Noah before long.

He'd taught Noah bits and pieces his whole life, after all. He could already understand basic commands and ask basic questions. He wasn't at full conversation level yet, however. Although, his accent was already better than Liv's. She'd brought out some Spanish textbooks for herself as well, wanting to improve her Spanish.

She didn't have to, but he appreciated the effort.

"Say no more," his mother said with a smile. "Voy a buscarlo por ti." (I'll go get it for you.)

"Gracias, Mamì."

"De nada, Rafi," she said. "You know, tu abuela quería que te lo diera si llegaba el día." (You know, your grandma wanted you to have it if the time ever came.)

"Really?"

"Sí, yes really," his mother said. "She loved you so much, Mijo. Never forget that."

"I miss her," he said with a lump in his throat.

"I miss her too, Mijo. Everyday."

Finishing up the stack of dirty dishes, and slipping the ring into his pocket, he made his way back to the living room where Noah was looking through a picture album. The boy was giggling.

He raised an eyebrow. "What have you got here?"

"You," Noah said simply. "Es tu hair."

"¿Oh, es mi pelo?" he inquired with a laugh. He looked at Liv. "How bad is it?"

She wore an amused grin. "Come and take a look for yourself."

He shook his head, amused, before taking a seat and stealing a glance at the photo. "You know, as unfortunate as that haircut was, there is a funny story behind it. Well, it wasn't funny at the time, but still -"

"Can you tell it?" Noah asked, looking at him with pleading eyes.

"Go on," his mother said. "If you don't, I will. Your face was priceless."

"Of course you would," he said with an eye-roll. With that, he began recounting the story about picture day at school and a rather embarrassed Eddie Garcia. who admittedly ended up looking like a giant chia pet by the end of it all. All the while, he had a huge smile plastered on his face.

It didn't stop there, either. He shared some funny stories behind a few pictures and his mother horrifyingly decided to add a few anecdotes herself that she found absolutely hilarious. Rafael was more than a little horrified. He had hoped he'd be able to dodge the mother wants to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend stage, but apparently, he wasn't that lucky.

Noah was laughing just as hard as Liv was too, which didn't help.

Rafael's cheeks were redder than he could ever remember them being.

He had to admit, a lot of the stories were hilarious. He'd done some seriously stupid stuff as a kid and the results of several were more than a little hilarious.

In due course, his mother took pity on him and shared some good, and yet not embarrassing stories. She really knew how to tell a story when she wanted to. He supposed he had to get it from somewhere.

Eventually, it was time to go home and he carried an exhausted and half-asleep Noah out to the car.

They'd stayed at his mom's later than planned and it was quite late when they left. By the time they'd arrived back in Manhattan, he'd completely passed out, so he carried Noah in and put him in his bed, having taken off the young boy's winter jacket.

Glancing back to make sure Noah hadn't woken, he closed the door to the boy's room softly behind him.

"Little man's out like a light."

Liv just stood there, beaming. "Perfect. Thanks for carrying him, by the way."

He smiled back. "It's fine, Cariño. He is getting quite big though."

"I know," she said. "He's growing up so fast. It's hard to believe how much time has flown by."

"Hmmm," he said, leaning in and kissing her. "If he grows much more I won't be able to carry him."

"You'll manage," she said with a soft chuckle, before leaning in for another kiss.


	32. Chapter 32

With only a couple days before his family got in from Santa Clara, he'd managed to finally get his Christmas shopping done.

And he was ecstatic because of it. The absolutely insane waits in line on top of his always hectic work schedule were testing his patience. Then there were the couple inches of snow that they got the previous day. Despite that, he was really looking forward to this Christmas.

Eddie, his son, and his mother were going down to Miami for two weeks, so he wouldn't be seeing the Garcias over the holidays, but they'd all already exchanged gifts and well wishes.

His paternal uncle, Mauricio Barba, had also made his way down from Miami. Unfortunately, both Rafael's paternal grandparents had passed away some years back. His abuelo when Rafael was twelve and his abuela just three years before his mother's mother passed away.

As far as work went, he wasn't complaining that he had several of the Hardwicke cases mostly done. He'd taken several to court finally and he was expecting verdicts sooner rather than later. He also managed to plead several out, including the Garcia case, which was all well and good.

The Weinstein case had certainly kept him busy as well. He still had court dates for that one after Christmas.

Judge Bertucciore had thankfully rejected a motion from Weinstein's attorney to dismiss the criminal charges against the disgraced film producer. Counsellor Buchanan had filed the motion due to allegations that police acted improperly in the investigation that led to Weinstein's arrest, which was a load of nonsense.

The debacle was beginning to feel like the Byron Marks case all over again.

Hopefully, that would be over with sooner rather than later.

Thankfully, the nightmare that was the Barron case, one of his, not Hardwicke's, was over as well. A couple that raped women together. Oh, joy.

The husband sure did a number on the wife, though. Groomed her perfectly.

He never did figure out what gave her real identity away to Liv, though. To say he was shocked when the DNA came back and it was the missing daughter, well, that would be an understatement.

Every time he thought cases would stop surprising him, something else insane happened. At this point, he was used to being stunned by weird twists. It came with the territory, unfortunately.

On top of that, Gov. Cuomo had just signed into law a sexual assault survivors' bill of rights aimed at making sure cases would be properly reported, victims would be provided health care and counselling services would be made available. There were other things that would be put in effect alongside this, but the details were still being fine-tuned.

He was in agreement with what was being done but hoped the end product was something that would do more good than harm.

He'd also agreed to cover the office until four o'clock on Christmas Eve so that there was an ADA available if needed. He was still trying to suck up to the DA's Office some. After this, he'd call it good, though. As far as anyone from work was concerned, next year he would be in Gstaad without phone service.

He would then be running rapidly home. They'd agreed to host Christmas Eve at their house, as there was more place there than at his mother's. Liv was slightly nervous about being in a room with a group of people she didn't know, many of whom spoke little English, so had been practicing her Spanish even more. Honestly, either way, between him, his mother, and the several who did speak passable English, nobody would be out of the loop. His aunt Claudia was coming down from Miami as well, so there were enough fluent speakers to go around. He did like that she cared to try so hard, though. Noah just couldn't wait to show off his Spanish skills. He'd practiced introducing himself and other common questions when you meet someone.

Rafael had helped them both by telling them a little about each of the relatives that were coming, focusing some of Noah's vocabulary for him.

He knew from experience that understanding a foreign language was easier with more context than less. He hadn't spoken English until he was five, just growing up surrounded by other Cubans. Even when he started school, basically all of his classmates were cuban-american as he went to a small Catholic school in the South Bronx. It really was a sort of insular world.

Noah really did have little fear, so all should go fine. He wasn't concerned.

His family would appreciate any effort made. End of story. Olivia was definitely harder on herself than she needed to be.

All in all, he was really looking forward to spending a week with them.

Pulling himself out his musings, he finished tying his tie and put a black suit jacket on, quickly grabbing his favourite cufflinks.

"So, you ready to go?" Liv said, popping her head in.

"Ready to go," he said.

"Good," she said with a smile. "I'll go grab my coat then."

"Perfect. I'll be out in a sec."

SVU had their annual Christmas party the weekend previous and tonight they were going to the District Attorney Office's Christmas get together. As much as he would like to skip it, politics dictated he attend and suck up to certain individuals. Damn politics.

He wouldn't bother with it except for the fact that it made doing his job so much easier. They didn't need to like him or his methods. He did need professional respect from them, however. Especially if he did end up with the EADA position. A part of him was trying not to get his hopes up, but still... he couldn't deny he wanted it.

He'd always been good at playing the game, although he'd done things that would say otherwise for Liv, such as going up against ACS. Then he'd later started doing things like that on his own.

He was just glad nobody had figured out he'd intentionally caused a mistrial back during the Mclaughlin case. Well, he could tell Liv suspected and the judge as well, but nobody had any proof and Olivia Benson was smart enough to know certain things couldn't and shouldn't be voiced.

That had scared him at the time, that he'd reacted so emotionally, but he couldn't say he regretted not sending an abused teenage girl to prison in the slightest. The outcome from Family Court was as good as he could have hoped for.

He snorted. The amount of stupid stuff he'd done since working with Manhattan SVU for the first time was astounding. Lots of those fights were worth it, though.

Readjusting his tie, he made his way out to the car where his better half was waiting.

They were both in good spirits although a bit quiet all the ride to the DA's Office.

Liv parked the car, and they both made their way to the main conference hall on the first floor.

Walking into the hall, he glanced around. There were Christmas decorations everywhere. Someone had gone well out of their way to put up decorations in basically every corner of the room, and to even get a tree which was decorated as well.

It definitely looked festive. Then again, Lawyers were known for going all in.

Jack McCoy, in particular, never did anything by half.

As it turned out, quite a large number of people had gotten there before them, and so groups of people were scattered everywhere chattering, many of whom had a drink or snack in their hand.

He and Liv made their way over to the drink table, grabbing a glass of punch. He was about to take a sip when he heard a voice behind him.

"Merry Christmas, Barba." Carmichael glanced at Olivia, offering his hand. "And to you as well. Lieutenant Benson, correct."

"That would be correct," she said politely. "And Merry Christmas to you as well."

"Yes, thank you. I hope you have a good Christmas yourself. You're travelling, yes?"

"Yes, my grandmother isn't up for travelling too far this year, so the family is coming to her."

"That's nice," he said.

"What are you both doing for the holidays?" Carmichael asked.

Liv looked at him, clearly wanting Rafael to reply. "I actually have family coming to visit, so I'll be spending some time with them if all goes according to plan."

"That should be nice. Are they coming here from Cuba?"

"Yes, Santa Clara."

"They'll get a bit of a shock with the weather than," Carmichael said.

"Oh, I have no doubt," he said with a small laugh.

"It's what, like 60 degrees Fahrenheit there?" Liv said, chiming in.

"Something like that at the very least," Rafael said. "I have no doubt I'll be hearing about how cold New York is the entire time."

There was a rather significant difference between 60-degree weather and 40-degree weather.

He already knew he'd likely be taking his family shopping immediately for some more weather appropriate clothing.

"Good luck with that," Carmichael said. "I do hope they enjoy New York, though." Carmichael paused, glancing at someone or something not too far away. "I actually see someone I've been meaning to talk to, so I have to go. Merry Christmas again.

"Finally," he said. "Glad we got that out of the way."

"It could have been worse."

He raised an eyebrow, looking at her as if to say, 'Really?' She just shook her head in reply.

"Come on. I actually see Carmen and Dworkin over there. That should at least be entertaining."

"Oddly enough," he said wryly, "that suits me just fine. Let's go talk to the clown."

"So you agree that he's a clown."

"A very intelligent clown," he said with a laugh.

She just rolled her eyes.

Maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad after all even if it was a 'political shindig' as Alejandro used to call them.


	33. Chapter 33

The morning of the twenty-second, his maternal family finally arrived. His Tía Teresa and his uncles were all older than his mother and had been old enough that they'd already been off on their own when his grandparents, Tía Claudia and mother came over. When the siblings had seen each other in the airport after all this time, it had been one of the rare times he'd seen his mother break down in tears.

After little reunion and quick introductions, they'd picked up two rental cars - they needed the second one because his relatives would be split between his place and his mother's - and stopped at a shop near the airport for a few clothing items.

As expected, his family hadn't had much clothes that were actually warm enough and quickly commented on the cold.

They then made their way to IHOP for a somewhat late breakfast. Noah was thrilled about that and Olivia just looked at him as if to say, "Do you realize how much of a cliché we are right now?"

In his defence, most of the good breakfast restaurants he knew were in Brooklyn or Manhattan. He was almost never in Queens.

Olivia had the same issue, and frankly, there weren't that many options close to the airport, to begin with.

In any case, his relatives weren't exactly picky and just wanted something to eat. Everyone was satisfied with the choice, and it hadn't taken long before they'd all been seated and ordered their food.

He'd helped some, but mostly they used the English they learned from talking to him and school, and muddled through.

"¿Cuándo se conocieron? ¿Cómo?" his Uncle Luís inquired. (When did you two meet? How?)

"Hace siete años," Liv said, looking at Rafael for confirmation. (Seven years ago.)

Rafael nodded. "Me trasladé de Brooklyn a Manhattan. Comenzamos a trabajar juntos poco después." (I transferred from Brooklyn to Manhattan, and we started working together soon after that.)

"¿Por qué te transfirieron a Manhattan? No creo que hayas explicado nunca," his Uncle Mauricio inquired. (Why did they transfer you to Manhattan? I don't think you've ever explained.)

"Por razones puramente políticas, Tío Mau. La solicité." He said it matter of factly. He wasn't particularly close with this uncle and wasn't about to go into any great detail for his benefit. (For purely political reasons, Uncle Mau. I requested it.)

"How much time do you work there for?" his cousin, Laura, asked Olivia with a rather thick accent.

Olivia swallowed a bite of pancake before she spoke. "Un largo tiempo. Over twenty five years." (A very long time.)

"¡Y ninguno de nosotros tiene el pelo gris todavía!" he said, causing everyone to laugh. (And neither of us have grey hair yet.)

"¡Hey, entendí! I did understand that, jerk!" Liv said, swatting him on the arm playfully. "However, no está equivocado." (He's not wrong.)

Noah took another bite of pancake. "Oh, so that's who the hair dye is for." Both Rafael and his mother almost spat out their juice. Olivia was trying hard to stifle a laugh, as were several others.

To explain to the few confused faces, Rafael said, "Dijo que ya necesito tinte para el cabello." He turned to Noah. "Watch who you call old, Hombrecito. Remember what happened to Eddie the Elephant?"

"More ice cream for me," Noah quipped. "Me gusta el helado." (I like ice cream.)

Rafael shook his head, amused.

"¿Mencioné que Rafi finalmente sacó el palo de su culo?" his mother deadpanned. (Did I mention that Rafi finally took the stick out of his ass?)

"¡Mami!" he said, slightly horrified.

"What?" his mother asked, grinning. "It's true. Es muy cierto que has cambiado." (It's very clearly you've changed.)

"Te pareces mucho a tu padre ahora," his paternal uncle said. (You look so much like your father now.)

Rafael tensed at that, which his aunt thankfully noticed. "Si lo que le preocupa es su lenguaje, todos lo hemos dicho peor," his aunt Claudia said. "We've all said worse."

He snorted, thankful for the reprieve.

"¡Seguro!" his other cousin, Ernesto, said. "Especialmente tu tío." (That's for sure! Especially your uncle.)

"¿Cuál?" Rafael asked with a small smirk. (Which one?)

Ernesto didn't hesitate to quip back. "Francamente, todos ellos!" (Frankly, all of them!)

"¡Escuché eso!" his Uncle Riel scoffed. (I heard that!)

"Hay una razón para eso," Rafael said with a slight chuckle. (There's a reason for that.)

"Tienen un poco de razón, querido hermano!" his aunt Teresa quipped. His other aunt nodded in agreement. (They do have a point, dear brother.)

Tío Luís looked at Olivia, and spoke in a even thicker accent than Laura's. "If you get casado you'll find your... what's the word... los suegros?"

"In-laws," his paternal uncle quickly supplied.

"Yes," his uncle Luís said, "esta familia always have a way to make life interesting."

"What are in-laws?" Noah asked.

"Your partner's side of the family," Olivia explained to the boy. "So, if Rafa and I got married, Lucía would be my mother-in-law. Do you understand now, Sweetie?"

"Sí, Mama, I think so."

"Good," she said. She turned to Riel. "I think I'll be fine. Ya conozco a tu sobrino. He also has a talent for it." (I already know your nephew.)

"Ella ha sido testigo de muchos trucos estupidos," Rafael said. "She's been party to her fair share of stupid stunts on my part."

"Oh, I can imagine," Laura said with a laugh. "Some things never change."

"Oh, ain't that the truth," Olivia said with a grin.

Mauricio nodded. "You can say that again."

"Hey, Noah," Rafael chimed in, "why don't you tell them that deer story?"

With no hesitation and no lack of detail he explained his little excursion back to New York City and what happened on the way, stopping for pancakes and everything. He was super excited when he got to the deer part of the story.

His cousin Laura looked at the young boy. "You seem to really like animals."

Noah nodded eagerly. "I do. And Rafa and Mama took me to the zoo with my aunt Amanada and cousin Jesse, and -" Once again, Noah jumped right into the story, everyone listening attentively.

After breakfast, they went to check out 5th Avenue before heading to the Winter Village in Bryant Park, which Noah had been looking forward to all week. Then there was the the Botanical Garden's Holiday Train Show that they planned on checking out, the following day, in the Bronx.

Around two o'clock, they all decided to head back to the Benson-Barba household in order to relax a bit and give his relatives a bit of a reprieve.

The ended up throwing on some telenovela or other, sitting around chatting, which was nice. He'd seen that coming though, so figured out beforehand how to set up English closed captioning - much to Olivia's relief. Noah didn't particularly care and just liked the visual information and sharing little anecdotes or running to his room to get a toy to show everyone.

The next morning, Ernesto joined him on the couch while everyone was still sleeping.

His mother had, thankfully, decided for Mauricio to stay with her, knowing full well Rafael was liable to snap if Mauricio started to sing his brother's praises.

"¿José Martí?" his cousin inquired, looking at the book in Rafael's hands.

He nodded. "Yo Soy un Hombre Sincero."

Ernesto dipped his head slightly. "Es un buen poema." (That's a good one.)

"Estoy de acuerdo," Rafael agreed. "Lo sé de memoria. Lo aprendí mientras estaba en la secundaria." (Agreed. I know it by heart. I have since high school.)

"Ah, las ventajas de tener un primo que es un ratón de biblioteca," Ernesto said happily. (Ah, the perks of having a nerd for a cousin.)

He raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Ernesto chuckled. "¿Qué? No necesito pagar por los libros cuando puedo pedir prestados los tuyos." He feigned distress at the next thing he said. "Y es cierto que tienes buen gusto en la literatura." (What? No need to pay for books when I can just borrow yours. And you do, admittedly, have good taste in literature.)

He smirked. "¿Cuánto dolió decir eso?" (How much did it hurt to say that?)

"Lo negaré si alguna vez le cuentas a la hermana." (I'll deny it if you ever tell my sister.)

Rafael shook his head, amused. "Toma lo que quieras, Neto." He gestured to his study. "Mi estantería está en mi estudio. De hecho, acabo de terminar de leer Quixote. También tengo varios libros de Alejo Carpentier y Gabriel García Márquez si puedes encontrarlos entre el desorden de los libros de leyes." (Help yourself, Neto. My bookshelf's in my study. I actually just finished reading Quixote. I have several books by Alejo Carpentier and Gabriel García Márquez as well if you can find them amongst that mess of law books.)

His cousin laughed as he made his way to Rafael's study. "¡Gracias, primo!"

That Sunday, they did end up going to the train show, showing them around the Bronx a little, as well as visited several Christmas markets. Ice skating had briefly come up before being rejected due to most everyone's lack of experience.

The Monday, Christmas Eve, meant work for both himself and Olivia, at least during the morning. He had quickly run back during lunch to start the lechón asado.

Right when four o'clock hit, Rafael had his files cleaned up and an uber already well on it's way, wasting no time in getting home.

The first thing he noticed when walking up the driveway to his home was Ya llego Navidad playing rather loudly - with more than one voice singing along to it. Thankfully, the neighbours were gone for the holidays.

Shaking his head, amused, he made his way inside, taking off his shoes.

Remarking that the house smelled amazing, he greeted everyone and was just making his way down the hallway to the kitchen when his aunt Claudia stopped him. "Mucho cariño para ti y tu familia esta Navidad, Rafi." (Lots of love to you and your family this Christmas.)

"¿Mi familia?" he reiterated. "¿Ya sabes?" (My family? You know?)

"Sí, tu mamá me informó que habías pedido el anillo. ¿Estás nervioso?" (Yes, your mom let it slip to me that you asked for the ring. You nervous?)

"No a menos que ella vacile." (Not unless she hesitates.)

"Buena suerte, Rafi." (Good luck.)

"Gracias, Tía." (Thanks, Aunty.)

After his conversation with his aunt, he made his way to the kitchen to help his mother, leaving Olivia and everyone chatting and drinking something or other. He knew Olivia had been talked into trying the Crema de Vie, though. Noah was drinking cider.

Checking in with her, he went to the backyard to check on the roasted pork.

Satisfied that the lechón was coming along nicely, he went back to the kitchen.

For Christmas Eve dinner, his mother was making arroz y frijoles negro, tostones, yuca con mojo, and croquetas. Rafael started the cranberry sauce, rice, and mashed potatoes they were making.

His mother also took charge of the buñuelos and arroz con leche that she wanted to make as well as a small pumpkin pie for dessert. The couple of very American items were so that they could be at least sure Noah would eat something. He loved cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes were always a safe bet with him.

He'd be dealing with the pork and his mother had wasted no time in kicking Olivia out of the kitchen and saying she could go entertain their guests. That meant his mother had done most of the cooking, while going between kicking him out of the kitchen as well and bossing him around and getting him to do stuff.

It was honestly a bit like being a child again.

Ah well. Still a pretty good day by his own estimation.

Hopefully, the food would be ready soon.


	34. Chapter 34

While his relatives were singing and dancing, and just generally being loud, in the other room, his mother was running around the kitchen, adding the finishing touches to most of the dishes. "Mijo, puedes sacar las croquetas por favor?" (Son, can you take the croquetas out for me?)

"¡Sí, claro! Lo haré inmediatamente." (Yes, of couse! I'll do that right now.)

"Gracias, Rafi." (Thanks, Rafi.)

"De nada." (You're welcome.)

Honestly, it was a good idea. He knew Noah was reaching the point where he would soon be crabby if he didn't eat something. Thankfully, the lechón should be done in about another fifteen minutes or so.

"¿Todo está bien? How's everyone?" he asked, placing the croquetas on the table in the living room.

"Better now that there's food," Noah said with a grin. "What are these, though?"

"They're called croquetas," he explained. "Try one. They're really good."

"He's right. ¡Es riquísimo!" Laura said, taking several, his uncle Luís and Ernesto following suit. "Eat." (It's delicious.)

Picking one up, and smelling it, Noah glanced up at him, trying to decide whether to eat it or not. After a moment, Noah took a bite and smiled. "Yummy!"

Laura ruffled Noah's hair, smiling softly. "Bueno, that _is_ what riquísimo means, Chiquito."

He smirked. "I'm glad you approve. Mami's outdone herself again," he said. "Cuando el quisquilloso lo aprueba, sabes que es bueno." (When our picky eater approves, you know it's good.)

"Tu abuela era una cocinera fenomenal," his Aunt Teresa told Rafael, helping herself to some of the food. (Your grandmother was a phenomenal cook.)

"Sí, nuestra mamá realmente lo era," his Uncle Luís said. "Ella lo aprendió bastante joven. (Yeah, our mom really was. She learned quite young.)

"Y afortunadamente, ella también se lo enseñó a mi mamá," he commented. "La comida cubana es tan buena." (And she, thankfully, also taught my mom to cook. Cuban food is so good.)

He then quickly explained the conversation to Noah and Olivia.

"You were taught as well," Liv said, taking a bite into a croqueta.

"Yes," he agreed, "but my cooking doesn't compare. Abuelita's cooking was fantastic. I would go to my grandparents' house after school and purposefully stay and visit until after dinner on occasion. Acabo de explicar que mi cocina no es comparable. La cocina de mi abuela fue fantástica. Iba a la casa de mis abuelos después de la escuela y me quedaba a propósito para cenar."

His aunt Claudia nodded. "Half that time was spent playing cards with your abuelo."

"Naturally, Tía Cuca," he replied. "Abuelo Nene was all about the card games."

"That he was," his aunt agreed.

Growing up, there was a lot of time spent playing cards with his grandfather while the man shared stories of his life growing up in Cuba. That, and dominos, but they played a lot of cards. He really cherished those memories. His grandfather had been a great man and taught Rafael so much about what it meant to be a man. Unfortunately, he'd died much too young.

"Cuántos años when you learned English, Uncle Rafa?"

"How old was I?" he said. "I was five. Cinco años."

"Was it hard?" Noah said, taking another croqueta.

"At first," he said with a shrug. "All of my classmates spoke Spanish too, as well as the teachers. That meant if I couldn't say it in English a teacher could help easier, and we had Spanish-English dictionaries. Todos hablaban español, así que la comunicación no fue difícil, incluso si no sabíamos la palabra inglesa para algo."

"That makes sense," Noah said. "It'd be scary if you couldn't communicate with anyone."

"The kid does have a point," Ernesto said, in the same accented English as his sister, "but you manage."

"¿Qué pasa?" his mother asked, walking into the room. "What are you all talking about?"

Apparently, the food was finally done. Perfect.

Tía Claudia quickly rattled off an explanation. "Flaca, estabamos hablando del hecho de que tu hijo creció en la comunidad latina local. Noah tenía curiosidad acerca de cómo Rafi aprendió inglés y español."

"Ah, conversation for the ages," his mother said before biting into a croqueta.

"Or something like that," he said with a snort.

"He's shared some very interesting stories about some mischief he got into a school," Liv said with a grin.

"Oh, I can imagine," Laura said. "Do share. We have some of our own."

"Can you share, Mama?" Noah pleaded, rather enthusiastically. "I like stories."

Liv smiled. "Oh, you do, do you?"

"Uh huh! You know that, Silly!" the young boy said with an ardent nod of the head.

Rafael's paternal uncle chuckled. "Keep that enthusiasm, Chiquito."

"While you all discuss me," he said wryly, "I'll go check on the lechón."

"You do that, Papito!" his aunt Claudia retorted with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes at the childhood nickname that had somehow managed to follow him well into adulthood.

"¡Solo lo aceptaría, si fuera tú, Rafi!" his Uncle Luís said. (I'd just go with it, if I were you, Rafi!)

"¡El tiene razón!" his uncle Riel said, amused. "Solo va cuesta abajo desde aquí." (He's right. It only goes downhill from here.)

Rolling his eyes again, he made his way out to the back yard.

Bringing the pork inside, he finished preparing it and then placed it on the table. He went and grabbed the other dishes from the kitchen as well. Feeling quite pleased with himself, he called everyone. "Es hora de cenar. Dinner's ready. If it's cold, not my problem."

"I heard that!" Ernesto retorted.

"You were supposed to!" he quipped. "Tú, mi pequeño primo mocoso, siempre eres lento para hacer cualquier cosa." (You, my little snot-nosed cousin, always take your sweet time doing anything.)

"Oh, you know you love him!" his mother stated with a laugh.

"Perhaps," he deadpanned. "El puede quedarse." He started laughing. "¿Neto, acuerdas lo que pasó cuando fuimos a esa playa en 2017?" (He can stay. Neto, do you remember what happened at that beach in 2017?)

"¿Con esa pareja tan desagradable y su pobre niñera?" (With that obnoxious couple and their poor nanny?)

"Sí!"

"¡Coño! ¡Claro que sí! Eso fue hilarante," Ernesto said. (Damn! Of course! That was hilarious.)

"¡Lo sé!" he said, laughing again. "I've never seen people run away so fast." (I know.)

"Except you from the haircutters!" his mother said.

"One time!" he exclaimed. "Una vez!"

At this, everyone laughed, even Noah. He could hear everyone making their way to the dining area, though.

"Rafi didn't always like haircuts," his mother said to Noah in way of explanation.

"It's hard to believe. Now, you can't keep him away from the barbers," Liv said, amused. "I swear, he cuts his hair more than me."

"Too true," his mother said.

"Blame my mother, Cariño. It's clearly phycological conditioning due to trauma from past absolutely horrid haircuts."

His mother chuckled. "Only because you wouldn't listen when I said to go get a haircut in the first place."

Tía Claudia couldn't miss a chance to tease him. "You really should've known better, Papito!"

"Seriously... the day right before picture day," he said through gritted teeth. "Mami then sent a copy to everyone. Hay muchas personas que tienen esa horrible foto. Qué vergüenza!" He narrowed his eyes. "Incluso la madre de Eddie. I can't even go to Eddie's house without seeing it. María Elena still has it and Eddie doesn't find it any less amusing."

"Don't be so dramatic, Rafi. I didn't send it to everyone." She smirked. "The school did that for me. And, Mariquita... Bueno, she asked so nicely."

He rolled his eyes.

"Now this I need to see," Liv said in jest. "Please get me a copy, Lucía."

He shook his head. "Seriously, I need to get that year's photos and burn them."

His mother started laughing even harder. "Rafi, you can be such a reina del drama Sometimes." She turned to Liv, and winked. "I've got your back, Mija. I'll show you later."

Olivia snickered.

"¿Realmente, ahora te das cuenta de que es ridículamente dramático, Tía?" (Really, you're just now noticing that he's a drama queen, Aunty?)

"Definitely not," his mother replied. "Simplemente lo estoy señalando." (I'm merely pointing it out.)

Laura chuckled. "Fair enough."

He turned to Laura and raised and eyebrow. "Don't help, Chaparra."

"Ok, I won't," Laura teased. "I'll just tell them about that time when you, extremely borracho, by the way, decided to use Neto's mouthwash and exorcist vomit."

"¡Qué carajo!" he exclaimed, laughing. "Can I not live anything down?"

"No!" both his cousins cried out, amused. Rafael just groaned, good-naturedly.

"Let's go take a seat, shall we?" his mother said, more than a little entertained by the antics. "Vamos a comer."

"Es una muy buena idea," his Uncle Riel said.

"Yes, a very good idea," Noah parroted, chiming in.

He grinned. "Best idea you've had all day, Mami! I think I could use a stronger drink, though."

His mother now rolled her eyes, bemused. "We're not that bad, but you know where the mojitos are. No touching the Crema de Vie until after."

"Alright."

"And you can show off your dancing skills after dinner," his mother said, tone leaving little room for argument. She didn't hide the fact she thought her son a little uptight.

"Yes, Ma'am!" he said, voice laced with sarcasm. He ran to the kitchen before his mother had time to respond.

Lucía Barba rolled her eyes at her son's antics. "Some things never change." She raised her voice slightly. "While you're at it, brat of mine, get Teresita a refill as well, por favor." She then gestured to his aunt's glass to make sure the aforementioned woman understood what was going on.

"¡Lo aprecio, Rafi!" the aunt in question called out. (I appreciate it!)

As he was walking he heard one last comment from his paternal uncle. "Honestamente, su inclinación por lo dramático no ha disminuido en absoluto." (Honestly, his penchant for dramatics has not lessened in the slightest.)

With an amused shake of his head, he poured several drinks, one for Liv, and brought them out. One thing was certain, life was never dull with his family.


	35. Chapter 35

His Tía Claudia said grace and then everyone dug into the food. Dinner then passed with lively chatter and everyone swapping stories in between bites of food. No surprise there. Conversation wasn't a problem in a room full of Cubans. Frankly, his family could turn anything into a conversation.

He'd also recalled a couple of the more amusing stories that happened when he was in Parque Vidal with his cousins the couple of times he visited.

"And where is this exactly?" Liv asked, amused.

"It's very much in central Santa Clara," he explained. "It covers an entire square block of the city."

"Is Santa Clara the biggest city in Cuba?"

"No," he said. "That would be Havana."

"Havana is the capital," his mother explained.

"Like Washington?" Noah asked.

"Yes, like Washington," Rafael agreed. "How about we eat some more dinner, ok, Mijo? If not you'll be very hungry later."

"Ok," Noah agreed readily, not noticing the pleased looks Rafael was getting for his term of endearment towards Noah. The young boy took another bite of the lechón asado. "Es delicioso."

Even Noah had no issues digging into the rice and black beans, tostones, and even trying some of the yucca with garlic sauce after some encouragement. The boy wasn't fond of the Yuca con Mojo, though, so ended up eating more of the cranberry sauce than anything. He loved the roasted pig, however, so that was a hit all around.

"Noah knows what he's talking about," Ernesto said. "La comida es deliciosa, ustedes dos." (The food is delicious, you two.)

There were murmurs of agreement all around.

"Thanks," he replied. "Gracias. Sin embargo, mi mamá hizo la mayor parte del trabajo. My mother did most of the work, however, so, thanks, Mami."

"Gracias y de nada," his mother said. "I was glad to help, Rafi."

"You did more than help, Mami!" he said. "It's appreciated."

"He's right, Lucía," Olivia said. "Thank you."

His mother smiled at her warmly. "You're welcome, Liv."

Dinner continued much in the same fashion as before, with his Uncle Riel and Aunt Claudia telling stories about when they were growing up, his aunt helping his uncle with the English at certain parts.

Eventually, everyone had had their fill and his mother brought out the deserts.

Noah had quickly dug into the buñuelos deciding that the donut-like pastries were a safe bet. He had been hesitant to try the Arroz con leche, however, and opted for a slice of the pumpkin pie.

It hadn't taken long for the pumpkin pie to be gone, actually, as it was small and several of his relatives had wanted to sample the desert alongside a helping of the rice pudding.

"Cinnamon?" Liv asked, taking a bite.

"Yes," his mother said. "I don't use raisins. I also added some lemon zest, among other things."

"Hmm," she said. "It's really good."

"Arroz con leche," he sang, "Me quiero casar…"

"Con una señorita de la capital," Ernesto sang, joining in. "que sepa coser, que sepa bordar -"

"Que sepa abrir la puerta para ir a jugar!" he finished off.

His entire family just burst out laughing.

His mother was shaking her head, trying to control her laughter. "Okay, we've clearly broken you two. Estás loco, pero te quiero, Mijo."

He raised an eyebrow. "La reacción fue exactamente lo que pretendía. It was very intentional," he said, voice filled with mirth. "Apenas estoy loco. I'm hardly insane."

"¡Siempre has estado un poco loco, Sobrino!" Tío Mauricio deadpanned. (You've always been a little crazy, Nephew.)

He quirked an eyebrow. "Porque tienes espacio para hablar," he retorted. (Because you have room to talk.)

His Uncle Mauricio rolled his eyes.

"¡Oye, no faltes al respeto a los mayores!" his Uncle Luís added in jest. (Hey, don't disrespect your elders.)

"Simplemente digo la verdad," he said wryly. (I merely speak the truth.)

His uncle just shook his head, amused.

"¿Qué fue eso?" Noah said enthusiastically. "It sounds silly." (What was that?)

"I would like to know as well," Liv said. "Una explicacion, por favor?"

"It's a children's song," Laura explained after a moment. "Basically, the first line is..." She looked to Tía Claudia for help, gesturing to the dish.

"Rice pudding," his aunt supplied.

"Rice pudding, I want to get married," Laura finished translating.

"Seriously, you two?" Liv said with a soft chuckle. "The food is good, I know, but still-"

"No regrets," Rafael said simply. "Neto, acuérdame tocar la canción para Noah más tarde." (Remind me to play the song for Noah later.)

"¡Obviamente, Rafi!" he said. "Of course."

Once everyone had finished dessert, Rafael loaded their dishwasher and hand washed a couple of the bigger dishes.

Once the table had been cleared and the dishes washed, he made his way out with some shot glasses of Crema de Vie for everyone - all of whom were more than a little animated at the moment. He brought out store-bought eggnog out for Noah who took a sip happily.

"¿Qué pasa?" he asked with a grin.

"Bebemos y luego vas a bailar," Laura said. She then pointed to him. "He's actually a fantastic dancer and singer."

"Lo sé. I know," Olivia said with a grin. "I walked in on him singing Noah a lullaby just before he turned three."

Rafael remembered that clearly. He'd gone over to Liv's apartment to see how she was doing after a bad case and Noah being ill. Noah was no longer sick but had still been fussy, and Liv had been stressed out. She had needed a shower to relax and to get changed into some fresh clothes. He'd offered to watch Noah while she did so. He'd sung a lullaby his abuela had sung to him so many times over the years: Aruru mi Niño. Noah had calmed down immediately.

He'd used to sing and dance around a lot more as a child. Along the way, that became less and less, although when he did get talked into it, he always enjoyed it.

"He was fussy, it worked," Rafael said. "Los bebés que duermen son más fáciles de ver." (Sleeping infants are easier to watch.)

His mother rolled her eyes. "It's a child, not a bomb."

Olivia didn't even try holding back a snicker.

He turned to Liv. "Do you have to tell everyone?"

"I didn't tell her," Liv assured him, still laughing.

His mother glanced between him and Olivia. "I'm getting the story later."

He sighed, feigning exasperation.

"Shots then?" Tía Claudia suggested pointedly, grinning.

He quickly passed around the shots.

"¡Feliz Navidad! Peace and plenty for many years to come," his mother said, raising her glass.

There were cries of 'Salud!' before everyone put their glasses to their lips.

Putting music on everyone started dancing. Laura was actually teaching Noah some basic dance steps. He snorted. Cuban moto: never to early to teach them to dance.

Noah was doing quite well, actually, and it was cute to see.

He sang while dancing and quite a few others were as well. Olivia included.

Guantanamera  
Guajira Guantanamera  
Guantanamera  
Guajira Guantanamera

Yo soy un hombre sincero  
De donde crece la palma  
Yo soy un hombre sincero  
De donde crece la palma

Doing the Cha-Cha-Chá, no one from his office would peg him as the same stern, little time for nonsense, prosecutor he was at work, and he couldn't bring himself to care, just enjoying the moment. it was so nice just being able to relax and dance with Liv who was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. And she wasn't the only one.

All concerns laid forgotten, just dancing and having fun, until it was finally time to head to Midnight Mass.

The service was quite beautiful, and Rafael could remember thinking as a child that there was something so sacred about Midnight Mass. The peace and calm. The joy of that coming together and the party at home.

His father had a nasty temper growing up, but Christmas was a time where even his father put his temper aside, letting his son just be a child.

After Mass, Noah was exhausted, so Liv read him the first half of a story, finally lulling the boy to sleep.

Being quieter so Noah could sleep, everyone was in the living room, still chatting quite animatedly.

Olivia went to the kitchen to get a drink and spotted his chance. He quickly pocketed the ring and caught up to her while she was pouring a glass of water.

"This has been nice," she said.

"It has."

"You missed them." It wasn't a question.

"Hugely. I never saw them growing up due to obvious reasons, although we phoned each other on special occasions and whenever else we could manage. That wasn't easy due to financial difficulties. Once the borders opened, however, being financially stable, thankfully, we were able to meet."

She nodded.

"You're quite the dancer," he said.

"You're not so bad yourself," she said with a grin.

"It's the Latin in me," he said with a laugh. "My mother would have felt scandalized if her own son couldn't dance. Cubans love to talk a lot, but music is our everything."

"I'm glad she made you learn," Liv said, leaning in for a kiss.

"You know," he said, pulling all his court experience to keep his voice steady, "there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh?"

Pulling the small black box out of his pocket, he dropped down to one knee.

Her hand flew to her mouth, and she looked like she was close to tears.

"Cariño, I love you with all my heart," he said. "We've both been through hell and back together over the years and you've stood by my side when others would have run. When we first met, and I saw you placating people, I expected another detective who was just blowing smoke. I quickly found out I was wrong. Your compassion was entirely genuine. Not only do you have a big heart, but you're beautiful, intelligent, and are tough as nails. More than that, you make me want to be a better man. I know I can be an asshole and am not always the easiest to deal with, but you've shown me that there is so much more to life than what I had. Things I had given up on. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Olivia Margaret Benson, will you marry me?"

She nodded, trying to get control of her emotions. "Yes, Rafael. Yes, I'll marry you."

He kissed her again, longer this time, and slips the ring on her finger.

As they walked back into the living room, Rafael felt like he was on cloud nine.

As far as days went, this one had been perfect.

He thought back to his trial and leaving Olivia crying in the street.

He'd made so many mistakes, but they'd brought him here. His only thought as Liv showed off her ring was of gratitude for the second chance he'd been given.


	36. Chapter 36

Everyone stayed the night at his house Christmas Eve, although the rest of the week they'd gone back to their previous arrangements.

Christmas morning they woke up, Noah running around excited, and dug into their stalkings. He helped his mother make a rather large breakfast for everyone and then once everyone had eaten, Noah had excitedly pointed out that it was time to open gifts.

They'd deliberately wanted to celebrate some on Christmas day as well, for Noah. So, the day, although, a somewhat smaller affaire was still spent together and he'd finally gotten to open his gifts.

His family had been excited to have a kid to spoil, and he was aware that his mother had gone into full-on Grandmother mode. Noah had definitely gotten spoiled this Christmas, and nobody particularly felt guilty about it.

He figured she hadn't had the means to give Rafael many extras growing up, so now that she was a little more financially stable...

As for Rafael, he may have gone slightly overboard for Noah and Olivia both.

Liv had accused him of spoiling her before but he didn't see it that way. She deserved it. Her face when she saw the necklace was worth it.

He'd bought her a matching necklace to the one that was sitting in Evidence due to the Lewis debacle. It had been her favourite.

She'd hugged him, thanking him profusely.

He'd had to nudge her into opening the rest of her gift. Some chocolates as well as bath bombs to help her relax.

He'd kept his gifts for his relatives somewhat smaller and travel-friendly due to them insisting the plane tickets and hosting were more than enough, and just the logistics of them all flying home after. They did the same, more of a mutual agreement than anything. He really didn't need or want much.

His mother, however, and Olivia, had different ideas, and so bought quite a few things that he liked immensely but would never have bought for himself. Liv. however, did know he liked practical gifts and stayed in that vein. The only things he ever really bought for himself were suits, tickets to shows, food, books, and the odd thing now and again.

When he did have time, he'd read everything under the sun. He also happened to have a particularly long-time favourite: the Count of Monte Cristo. His copy had been destroyed, however, some years back and he'd never bothered to buy another one.

His mother had bought him the new edition of the book and a couple of smaller gifts.

He'd gotten her a new slow cooker and an assorted tea gift collection from a rather expensive store his mother loved.

Liv had gotten him some quite nice clothes for everyday wear and an extremely nice watch with his name engraved on it that would go great with his favourite pair of cufflinks. It was stunning.

The next several days after that had passed too quickly for Rafael's liking. He and Olivia were both back to work, but tried their hardest to be home for lunch when possible and tried not to be at work too late.

The Saturday and Sunday, however, they both turned off their phones and decided that work could take a hike.

They did a few of the more touristy activities that they hadn't been able to do yet and then showed them some of the local favourites as well.

Unfortunately, that Sunday afternoon they saw his relatives off at the airport, although his family made him promise to visit sooner rather than later.

He was hoping he'd be able to go the following summer, but it really depended on work. If not that summer then in the fall, perhaps.

Back at work, they'd both announced their engagement to the squad and Carmen before talking to Dodds and McCoy. The team had been quite pleased.

Fin was pleased, however, the man had pulled him aside and in no uncertain terms made his stance clear. "Don't fuck this up, Counsellor."

"I don't intend to."

Fin nodded, offering his hand. "Congratulations. It's good to see you both so happy."

Now, McCoy seemed quite pleased when he congratulated Rafael actually, although, Dodds was different. The man only really had a profession tolerance for Rafael more than anything.

The Weinstein case was finally going to trial. Motions hearings had been exhausted and the press was now going insane.

He'd sat down with McCoy and the trial judge three days previous. Rafael went into the meeting with one goal, and one goal only. To get a closed trial.

He sat down and got some heat for the unusual request, which he expected, and calmly explained his reasoning. He cited the Martha Cobb's case and several others, although the Martha Cobb's case was just bad all around; politics entered the courtroom when it never should have.

Thankfully, he managed to convince McCoy that this was the only way that a fair trial could happen. Yes, the sicko frankly deserved the nightmare with the press, but on the other hand, he had the right to a fair trial.

The over-enthusiastic press and public wouldn't allow for that.

Afterwards, the Manhattan District Attorney got support from the judge, who closed a pivotal hearing Friday to the public and the press.

After that, the New York Supreme Court Justice had to reject several appeals from press organizations — a roster of major New York and national outlets — who insisted that the public's right to follow the case superseded privacy or fair-trial concerns.

And so, Rafael was made to make a public statement. He'd been on his way to do the press conference when he'd received a call.

The Defence Attorney actually wanted to talk deal.

With some negotiating, he'd been able to work out a satisfactory deal. Their client had been on a massive ego trip when Rafael had tried to cut a deal earlier. Apparently, he'd been appropriately scared back into reality. Small mercies.

He wanted the guy behind bars but really didn't want to have to dismiss another indictment. That had been embarrassing enough the first time. He had felt he had had no choice, though, at the time.

After meeting with the Defence Attorney, he'd gone back to his office, trying to make his way through his - now a lot smaller - stack of paperwork.

He had honestly been cutting deals left right and center lately, purely to avoid having too many cases in court and to close as many as possible.

He had taken on a way heavier caseload than he maybe should have. Regardless, he wasn't accepting or offering bad deals. He just initiated the conversation a lot more. If he couldn't get a satisfactory deal the case went to trial; end of story.

He had several other meetings that day and had just come out of his last one when Olivia called.

"Barba," he answered, taking a Tylenol for his headache. He and Fin may have gone a little overboard the night before when everyone had gotten together for New Years.

"Hey, Rafael. Can you come down to the station this afternoon?"

"Of course, Lieutenant. I'll be there within the hour."

"Bring coffee."

"That bad?"

"Well, it's hardly good."

He sighed. "I'll be by soon, Liv. See you shortly."

"See you soon."

He quickly called an Uber and tried to get some more reports done while he was waiting for it to arrive. Today was going to be a long day.


	37. Chapter 37

"You've got to be kidding me," he said incredulously. "How long has it been? Twenty-five years?"

"Something like that," Olivia said. She walked over to their board and started explaining everything.

"So, Infinity's last rape was January 2, 1994," the lieutenant said. "I was a rookie in the five-five. Everyone in the five Boroughs knew about that case. We did have to catch Rollins up, though."

He glanced at Rollins.

"He wasn't exactly well known back in Georgia," Rollins said by way of explanation.

"Fair enough," he said.

"Now," the lieutenant said, "he was good for twenty-two rapes in Manhattan and Brooklyn from '81 to '94."

"This guy targeted couples," Carisi said. "He'd case out the place, jimmy open a door or window. Then he'd lie in wait, break in a second time."

"This guy's a real bastard," Rollins said.

"She's right. He'd tie up the boyfriend or husband, then he'd stack plates on their back and he said if he heard a rattle, the woman was dead," Fin said.

"He took trophies. Small personal items. After the fifth rape, he started leaving messages," Carisi said. "Infinity: 5. NYPD: 0."

Olivia looked at him. "You know, if this is him, he's been out of commission for over two decades, which makes him middle-aged or older."

"Had they gotten a sense of his age before?" he inquired.

"No," Carisi said. "They said that he, uh he spoke in a low voice, he told the wife to keep quiet. They didn't fight back, so there's no sense of his physicality either."

"Have you contacted Crime Stoppers?" he asked.

"No," she said, giving him a pointed look.

"One PP wants this quiet, don't they?" he asked, although it was more a statement than a question.

"Until we know what we're dealing with," she said, "yes. They want to keep it on the DL."

Sgt. Tutuola glanced at his phone. "Okay, no DNA in April's rape kit. CSU found two hairs in the bed but they're not a match to the Bakers and no match in CODIS."

"Okay, so check that DNA against old evidence," the lieutenant said. "Rafael, please do some digging."

Carisi turned to him. "How much do you actually know, Counsellor? Do you know who counsel was for the Infinity case?"

"I don't," Rafael said, "but we've likely crossed paths professionally." They nodded. "I'll pull some favours and get the files. I'll be given access. No judge wants to be responsible for not acting when this asshole is on the loose again. They'll open their kimonos, so to speak, the second I ask."

"Perfect," Olivia said. "Then I'll leave that in your capable hands."

"What do you want us to do?" Rollins asked.

"While he deals with the case paperwork I want you and Fin to see if you can talk to any officers who worked the case," the lieutenant said. "We need every piece of information we can get on this guy. Carisi can help Barba and I'll go talk to April."

"On it, Lieu!" Fin said with a nod.

"He's only a human," he said, turning to face his fiancée. "He has to have made a mistake somewhere."

She nodded. "We just have to find it."

As expected, law enforcement was an open book. He was immediately lead to a room where the case files were stored.

"Here you go, Barba. Detective," the man said. "Infinity, '81 to '94. There's over a dozen of them. I'll get you a dolly.

"All right, thanks, George," Carisi said.

He glanced at the sheer number of file boxes for the case. "This guy is already making my skin crawl."

"You're not the only one, Rafael."

He started looking at a case file and saw something that surprised him.

"Carisi, look at this."

"What?"

"'Ben Stone', 'District Attorney's Office' He used to be with the Joint Infinity Task Force."

"You knew him right?"

"Yeah," Rafael said. "Saint Ben. He was a great man. There wasn't an ADA hopeful who didn't look up to him. He mentored quite a few hopefuls. McCoy amongst them, actually. We both attended his funeral."

Carisi nodded.

"Let's get this back to my office," he said with a sigh. "Then we can start reading all this."

Once back at Rafael's office they both delved into them, searching for anything useful. They hadn't found a whole lot, of course, as if there had been enough for a case, they wouldn't have been in this position in the first place, but they were hoping some of it would make connecting the dots easier later as Rafael had a bad feeling they'd have a second case. They had found a photo of his son, Peter, in the file, which was odd.

He'd probably call the Homicide ADA during this case to see if Ben had accidentally let anything slip over the years.

If he was as stuck on this case as it seemed like, it would have bled into his children's lives in some form or another.

He shook his head. "Carisi. These notations in Stone's handwriting? They're dated 2017."

"That's a year before he died."

"Yeah," he said. "This case must have haunted him."

Carisi nodded. "A lot of Law Enforce lost sleep over this case."

"I hope we get this bastard."

"You're not the only one."

They went back to the Squad Room.

"Okay, we have unmarked cars on the Bakers' block, right?" Olivia asked. "We're monitoring their calls?"

"Nothing so far," Fin said. "This guy was and continues to be a ghost."

"Nope, not a ghost," Carisi said. "A copycat. We've been going over the old case files. Ben Stone was the lead ADA in the case."

"I didn't realize that," Olivia said.

"Whoever attacked the Bakers was definitely not Infinity," Rafael said. "Everything, the signatures, the reconnaissance, the plates, were all in the papers. And then there are three books. What wasn't made public and was consistent with each victim is exactly why we know it's a copycat. He forced them to pretend they were enjoying the assault." He looked at Liv. "Loudly."

"For the tied-up husband to hear," Rollins said, understanding.

"And this guy made April keep quiet," Olivia said.

"The Infinity's got a lot of fans online," Rollins said. "Serial rapist, serial killer message boards. I mean, believe it or not, that's a thing."

"So, one of these guys got bored fantasizing and made it real?" Fin said.

"Twenty-five years to the day to the last rape," Rafael said. "All this is a sick homage to mark the anniversary."

Rollins was quickly typing away on her computer. "Okay, so I've got Infinity's Wikipedia page up." She paused. "Hold up, it was it was last updated two hours before the Baker assault."

"Who?" Liv asked.

"Uh, the username is "RealInfinity23."

"Have TARU track down the address," the Lieutenant said. "ASAP."

Thankfully, TARU moved quickly, and they had a name before long: Karl Patton.

Fin and Carisi had immediately been sent by Liv to go arrest the guy.

The lowlife was living with his sister and had a room full of Infinity paraphernalia. Fin refused to even cuff the guy, not wanting to touch the bastard.

Even his sister thought that Patton was guilty.

Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the interrogation happening in front of him.

"Don't you feel the excitement?" Patton said. "Soon the whole world will know who I am."

"Cut the crazy," Fin said. "Tell us about this woman."

"Sweet, sweet April."

"Just answer the question," Fin said.

"She smelled like roses. Fresh out of the shower."

Carisi sighed. "Okay, let's..." Carisi put his face in his hand for a second, trying to get a grip on himself. "Let's start with why you were in her bedroom. Your side of the story."

"You're playing with me, right?" Patton inquired, although not exactly questioning. "Good cop, bad cop?"

"Look, the game's over, Karl," Fin said, "And wipe that stupid smirk off your face. Tell us what you did."

"I've been waiting for this moment for 25 years," Patton said. "I want to savour it."

"I'm done," Fin said, closing the file and getting up out of his seat.

Both detectives pretended to start walking out. "Wait! I want to confess."

"We're listening," Carisi said.

"I stalked April," he said. "I raped her."

"What about her husband?" Carisi asked.

"I tied him up, stacked plates on his back," Patton said. "Told him if I heard so much as a rattle, game over. That's my signature."

"Your signature?" Fin asked.

"Of course," Patton said. "But you knew that."

Rafael took his attention off the interrogation for a second, turning to Liv. "He's a piece of work."

"This guy laying out his own insanity defence?" Liv inquired.

"He's not doing a bad job," Rafael admitted.

"Well, he can't be Infinity," Liv said. "Patton wasn't born until a year after the first rape."

"Well, we already knew he wasn't," Rafael said. "What's his story?"

"He's an unemployed computer programmer," she said. "From his social media, he's been obsessed with Infinity since he was a teenager. And we know he's good for April and Gavin? He planned it to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Infinity's last rape." She took a deep breath. "The DNA found on the hairs from the Bakers' bedroom is a match, and CSU found April's brush in his workroom, which was a treasure trove of Infinity's paraphernalia including this letter, which I had the lab make a copy of." She paused. "We need to talk to Peter Stone."

"I'll call him," he said. "I was already intending to, but why?"

"The letter... Apparently, it's from the real Infinity. To his father."

"Ah," he said. "I'll go talk to him. Let me known if anything else comes up."

"Will do, Rafa," she said, squeezing his hand.

Unfortunately, Stone hadn't been much help. Peter had never talked about his father's cases with Ben, although, certain things had started to fall in place for the young ADA.

Stone read the letter, nonetheless. He had wanted to help, he just didn't know anything particularly useful.

"Your son throws the ball like he was born for it," Peter read aloud. "June 1988. I would have been seven."

"He seems to of staked out your Little league games," Rafael commented.

"That photo you found with this," Stone said. "I was seven. Infinity might have taken it." He looked pensive.

"What?" Rafael asked when Stone wasn't quickly forthcoming.

"You know, my dad sent me and my sister to live with my Aunt Carolyn in Montana that summer," Stone explained. "Dropped us off and said, "Be back soon.' Three months later, not a word. My aunt had to put us on a plane so we wouldn't miss school. I always resented him for that."

"Your father may have been trying to protect you," he said softly.

"And I resented him for that," Stone said. "What kind of son does that make me?"

"A child who simply felt abandoned because nobody even tried to explain the situation?" he said with a raised eyebrow. "Don't blame yourself for it."

"Easier for you to say."

"My resentment for my father is well earned, I assure you," he said with a snort. "No guilt there."

Neither knowing what else to say, he said goodbye before going to see if the squad had found anything. They hadn't yet, unfortunately.

"On one count of rape in the first degree, one count of assault in the first degree, one count of kidnapping in the second-" Judge Serani said.

"Shouldn't that be twenty-three counts?" Patton said.

"Counsellor, how does your client plead?" the judge asked.

"Not guilty," Public Defender Guthrie said without preamble.

"People on bail?" the judge asked.

"The people request remand, Your Honour," Rafael said. "This brutal assault was premeditated, an homage to the real Infinity's last rape down to the date and the time."

"I am the real Infinity!" Patton cried out.

"That's enough, Mr. Patton!" Judge Serani said.

"Mr. Barba," the judge said, "I'm granting your request for remand.

"Thank you, Your Honour."

The grabbed his files, and feeling pleased, walked out of the courtroom to where Carisi was waiting.

He'd not quite reached his destination when he was stopped by some true-crime reporter or author or some other named Claire Newbury.

She wanted to do an interview with him, Patton and had hinted at planning to ask Peter Stone.

He shook his head. Like he was going to participate in that farce.

"What's Patton's defence gonna be?" Carisi asked. "The guy confessed. We got forensics."

"Don't underestimate Guthrie," he said with a snort. "He's clashed with a lot of people even other defenders. He stuck as a public defender. Barely passed the bar. He's rather low on the totem pole and wants his moment in the sun. He's desperate. He'll get creative. Just like he did in the Lewis Hodda case." He raised an eyebrow. "Between you and me, him taking this case was a mistake on his part."

"Going to throw the book?"

"Twice over," Rafael smirked. "Hmmm... The letter found in Patton's house, was it authenticated?"

"Handwriting analysis matched those received by the NYPD," Carisi said.

"Do we know where Patton got it?" he asked.

"Criminal memorabilia black market," Carisi explained. "A dealer bought it from a detective who was working the Infinity case in the '80s. Ended up at a store on the Lower East Side."

"Really?" he said with a small grin. "I want you and Fin to pay someone a visit for me."

"I know where you're going with this," Carisi commented, "and I like it."

"Fin'll appreciate getting to do a little shakedown," he said wryly.

"Oh, no doubt," Carisi said, pulling out his phone to call Fin.

He hoped the store owner would actually give them some information.

Checking the time, he pulled out his phone and started dialling. "¡Hola, Hermano! ¿Cómo estás? How do you feel about lunch?"


	38. Chapter 38

He and Eddie met at Forlini's, ordered food, and Eddie started to tell him all about his trip to Miami. Sebastián had loved the trip, and the other man had had a great time himself. He had met his girlfriend's parents the other night as well.

He was happy things were going well for Eddie. He really was. "I'm glad you had a good holiday."

Eddie took a sip of his drink and looked at Rafael, a warm smile on his lips. "It was good to see everyone again."

"¡Sin duda!" he said. "It was good to see my family as well. (No doubt.)

"Ernesto the same as always, I take it?" Eddie questioned, still smiling fully.

"¡Claro!" he replied, chuckling as he spoke. His cousin really was something else. "That guy will never change. Nunca." (Clearly! Never.)

The other man dipped his head slightly. "What else is new with you? ¿Qué pasa?"

"Actually," he said, "I'm now engaged."

"¿Qué?" Eddie said. "When did you ask? Have you set a date?"

"Nochebuena," he said, his nose crinkling slightly with contentment as he spoke, "And no date, yet."

"Y eras de carnaval sin duda," Eddie said, cracking a joke at the fact that Rafael was always impeccably dressed. (And you were dressed to the nines, no doubt.)

"For once, no!" he shot back with a chuckle.

Eddie shook his head, amused. "Sure, sure. Do you own anything but suits now?"

"¡Sí!" he said with a slight snort.

"Just teasing," Eddie said with a playful grin. "Honestly, congratulations, Rafi! I'm really happy for you."

"Gracias," he said. "I also wanted to ask you something."

Eddie eyed him curiously. "¿Qué? What is it?"

He leaned forward slightly. "I would like you to be my best man."

"Si estas seguro," Eddie said, "I'd love to, Hermano." He squeezed Rafael's shoulder. "Seriously, I'm so happy for you." (If you're sure-)

"Thanks, Eddie."

"How did your mom react?"

"It's my mother," he said, quirking an eyebrow. "She's ecstatic. She's been wanting grandchildren for years. Now, she gets to bug Noah."

"Two birds with one stone," Eddie said with a laugh. The man's attention then landed on the nearby TV. "What's going on there?"

"Not sure," he said, "but that's about my case." He recognized that girl. She was the woman that stopped him outside the courtroom. He glanced towards the bar and gestured to the TV. "Hey, Anthony, can you turn that up?"

"Sure, Barba!"

He nodded his thanks, fixing his attention to the interview taking place. He had little doubt that it was going to throw a wrench into his case.

_"So, Mr. Patton," Claire Newbury said, "you claim to be the infamous Infinity rapist."_

_"Yes," Patton said. "You should know that. You wrote three books on me."_

_"You realize," she said, "Infinity - if he's even still alive - would be well into his 60s by now, if not 70s. An old man."_

_"That's why the world needs a new Infinity," Patton said pointedly, as though it were obvious. "That's why I'm Infinity now."_

He didn't bother paying attention to the end. If it was probative, he'd be informed shortly. It didn't contain anything new he could use.

"!Coño! ¡Este tipo es tremendo jamonero!" Eddie was visibly shaking his head in disdain as he spoke. (Damn! That dude's such a creep!)

He quirked an eyebrow at the comment. He felt Eddie was, as usual, putting things a little too mildly. "That's putting it nicely. El cabrón de mierda." (The damn bastard.)

Eddie nodded in agreement. "Do you gotta run?"

Rafael looked from his friend to the TV and back again. "No. Not yet," he said, making his mind up about staying. "It's just an interview. It's not anything that can't wait."

"Ok," Eddie said, glancing at the Tv again. "Pero no querría tener tu pincha en este momento, Rafi." (But I wouldn't want to have your job right now.)

"Desafortunadamente, mi trabajo es frecuentemente tan caótico," Rafael said, waving the comment off. "We'll manage." (Unfortunately, my job's frequently this chaotic.)

"Still -"

"Bueno, tell me about the Chocolate Festival," he prodded, wanting to change the tooic to something lighter. "You didn't exactly explain."

"I regretted that when it was time for Seb to sleep," Eddie said with fond amusement. "In any case, we..."

When he finally said goodbye he knew he'd made the right choice in saying work could wait. He'd always be somewhat of a workaholic, but he had come to realize just how lonely he'd been before the Householder case without even realizing it. Especially after he had lost Alex and Yelena.

"Where's the fire?" he asked, walking into the precinct.

"In there," the lieutenant said, pointing to an interview room. "Claire Newbury and her husband, Leo." She shook her head. "Claire was raped. Her statement is being taken right now."

He took a deep breath. "Fucking brilliant."

Needless to say, his mood was hardly improved when he started listening to the interview.

"It was him," Claire said. "I am absolutely positive."

"Did he say anything?" Rollins asked.

"Yes. He said, 'I'm alive, you bitch.'" Claire paused. "Obviously he saw me on the news."

"Do you have any idea how he could have gained access to your apartment?" Rollins asked after a moment.

"He must have followed us in from the street," Claire replied.

"Ok, what then?" Rollins inquired.

"Leo had his key in the front door, and suddenly he was just there," Claire explained. "Ski mask, gloves. He had a knife. I wanted to fight, to scream, but Leo said no. We would do whatever he wanted." Claire's voice caught. "We didn't want to die."

"What happened next?"

"He put the knife to Leo's throat," Claire said. "He had me tie him up, stack the plates, everything the way I had researched. Exactly the way I knew he would behave." She made a gesture with her hand. "He took me into the bedroom. Then he tied me up and he raped me. And he told me to moan like I was enjoying it."

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Newbury," Rollins said. "Is there anything about him that stood out? Did you get a sense of his age?"

Claire nodded her head in confirmation ."He was an old man. He had old-man breath."

Rafael looked at Olivia. "This might be the real Infinity."

"I was thinking the same thing," she said.

They both turned their attention back to the interview.

"My husband is still in the hospital," Claire said. "He is too old for this! I'm too old for this! He comes back! That's what he does! What if he comes back?" Claire - who had been holding herself together really well - started to sob.

"Jesus," he said. "I want this bastard. Yesterday."

"Listen," she said, keeping her voice levelled, "we have every available officer working overtime. We're pulling street cams, we're pulling security cams from every bodega, bank, and lobby on the Upper East Side."

"All right, was there anything else at the scene? A partial print, a hair, a fibre?"

"CSU is going over that house with a fine-toothed comb," Olivia assured him. "We're just we're waiting on the rape kit."

"You said he was careful," Rafael pointed out a tad more tersely than he intended. "He wore a condom, a ski mask, and gloves -"

"Counsellor," she said, giving him a pointed look, "he was careful, yes but with the advancements in DNA technology-"

"Fine," he scoffed. "Now, how about that letter? Have Fin and Carisi found anything?"

She sighed. "The lab, it checked the letter that we found at Patton's office. There's no DNA. Look, there's... there's nothing else on evidence."

He sighed. "So, we wait for the Sargeant and Carisi."

"For now, Counsellor," she said. "Slowly and deliberately, but we'll get him."

He took a deep breath.

Thankfully, it wasn't too much longer before Carisi contacted them, saying they were on their way back with some news and commented that they threatened that Rafael would subpoena the store's business records to get cooperation.

He went back to his office to try and get some paperwork done while he waited for a call to go back to the precinct.

"The lab actually pulled DNA from Infinity memorabilia?" he asked.

"Saliva residue from a stamp," Olivia confirmed. "A letter mailed back in '83. You were right, this guy actually made a mistake."

"Any hits in CODIS?"

"No, unfortunately," she said.

He gave an awkward laugh. "I'm seriously beginning to relate to Ben Stone, right now."

"We'll get him, Counsellor.".

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," Carisi said, opening the office door, "but the, uh, DNA from the stamp? - I got a hit."

"How?" the Lieutenant asked. "I thought there was nothing in CODIS?"

"From learnmylineage," Carisi explained.

"You sent Infinity's DNA to a genealogy website?" the lieutenant inquired, more than a little surprised.

"Under what name?" Rafael asked. There had to be a catch somewhere. This seemed too easy.

"Uh, my own," Carisi said somewhat sheepishly.

Rafael sighed. _And there's the catch. That could complicate things._ He then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Great job, Detective, but next time let me know when you want to get every piece of evidence we have thrown out."

"It was a shot in the dark," Carisi said, not letting Rafael's icy tone bother him. "I figured it was easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission. If anyone can convince a judge to permit the evidence's admittance, you can."

"And?" Rafael demanded. "I assume you have a point, Detective?"

The blond ignored his tone again. "I got a familial hit. A close female relative. She's got an address in Brooklyn, and she gave the site permission to contact her with any matches." Carisi paused, turning to Olivia. "So now I'm, uh I'm asking your permission, Lieu."

Olivia didn't hesitate. "Go, run with it."

"Now, Carisi!" Rafael said. "I don't want a third victim."

"On it," Carisi said. "I'm taking Fin."

Good, the Detective and Sergeant were a good duo. Fin had a knack for controlled chaos and Carisi was a calmer influence.

Carisi also knew the law fairly well and could occasionally work an angle Rafael needed without even needing to be asked. Carisi being a lot calmer was good. Fin had literally kidnapped Byron Marks from Cuba. Fin was good at his job, but he preferred to avoid a repeat of that. Although, Carisi had just pulled a pure Odafin Tutuola. At least he gave him a heads up and he wasn't blindsided in court as Fin had done. He could likely deal with the aftermath of Carisi's choice.

He wasn't even mad, per se. Just... irritated. It was most probably going to complicate things.

Within an hour he had results. Perfect.

"Edgar Noone, 68," Carisi said. "Lived in New York with his wife before she passed for twenty years. He's now retired. Fin's going over there now. I'm with the niece."

The suspect was at the precinct within half an hour.

They immediately took his DNA and Fin ordered a rush on it.

Rafael watched from behind the glass window.

"Now what happens?" Noone said.

The lieutenant looked at Noone. "We wait for the DNA match and then we arrest you for twenty-three rapes."

Noone wasted no time in replying. "I'm not Infinity."

The Sergeant looked at Noone. "Let's agree to disagree."

"You're pretty confident," Noone said.

"Oh, I'm very confident that if we had the wrong man, you wouldn't be so calm," the Lieutenant said. "See, we have police files going back decades. Dates, times, places. And those apartments are gonna be on your cable repair route. And you won't have an alibi."

"We got the knives," Fin said. "We got the rope you planted, which you used to tie up your victims."

Noone, the picture of calm, just looked at them. "Infinity wore gloves."

"Well, we'll find touch DNA somewhere," Fin said.

"Infinity's too smart," Noone said.

"If Infinity's so smart, why'd he come out of retirement and rape Claire Newbury?" Fin said.

"The case was cold," Olivia said. "He would have gotten away with it."

"Maybe," Noone said a bit cautiously, "he didn't want the world to think he was dead."

He couldn't make out Fin's reply as Defence Counsel tapped him on the shoulder.

With a sigh, he knocked on the door.

"That'll be the ADA now," Olivia said, opening the door.

"Look who I ran into," he said, gesturing to the attorney beside him.

"No more questions for my client," Noone's lawyer said.

"You're that Baby-killer-ADA, aren't you?" Noone said. "You worked under Ben Stone."

"Yeah, I am. Why'd you ask?"

"I said no more questions," Defence Counsel said.

Noone's DNA matched the DNA on the back of the stamp and Claire Newbury made a voice ID, so they had a decent case for the one rape, at least.

He didn't have enough to indict Noones on any other counts of rape or sexual assault, and explained so. He needed more evidence, maybe a trophy.

They were going through Noone's financials, so hopefully, that would uncover something. He needed it too because he was concerned about the acceptance of the DNA evidence. Honestly, he wasn't surprised when not long after that conversation he was gifted with the Defence's motion to exclude Noone's DNA.

He really was fighting the urge to not strangle Carisi right now.

As the Defence had filed the motion, they went first. "The familial DNA which led police to my client was obtained without a valid court order."

"The genealogy website willingly complied," Rafael retorted.

"Based on an assumption of identity," the defence attorney countered. "NYPD did not identify themselves."

"Which is not illegal," he said. "In the Golden State case, the arresting officers did not identify themselves as police. The courts ruled to proceed regardless as the perpetrator had been properly Mirandized."

"Golden State was not in New York," defence counsel countered.

"And your point is?" he said with a raised eyebrow. He then silenced the defence's reply, citing an obscure case precedent he'd found during his research for the Byron Marks case and another less obscure case example. He hadn't been able to find any local ones, unfortunately. "Your Honour, there was no arrest previously. When Mr. Noone's was arrested, he did know why and by whom. The police did not hide their identities when it was important. Furthermore, the niece did give permission to be contacted."

The judge sighed. "Was the website public?"

"Private," the defence attorney explained. "And while my client's niece agreed to be contacted by familial matches, she did not agree to law enforcement having access to her DNA." The defence was really getting on his nerves. "Katz versus United States," the defence continued. "Supreme Court ruled in favour of protections of intrusions of privacy."

"With an exception for exigent circumstances," Rafael countered, tone making it clear he thought the Defence was stupid. "We believe Edgar Noone is the Infinity Rapist. To allow him the opportunity to escape would have been putting the entire population of New York City in imminent danger."

"There are serious Fourth Amendment issues here," the defence said. "If we go down this road, what's next? Police state? A mandatory universal DNA database?"

"My God!" he said, rather dramatically. He glanced at the defence. "Are you done?"

"Fine, go," defence counsel said.

"Thank you," he said smugly. "Ex post facto law clearly applies. The DNA was willingly submitted, and in Willson vs Dade-County the courts implied that retroactive consent was enough."

The judge sighed, eyeing the pair of attorneys. "Mr. Barba, do you have any other evidence linking Mr. Noone to these crimes?"

"Yes, Your Honour," he said. "The last victim made a positive voice identification."

"And that is also tainted," the defence attorney said.

"Hardly," he said quickly, seeing the judge about to speak. "It is no more tainted than a lineup, Your Honour. Victims have identified rapists accidentally in elevators before making an official ID. A positive ID is a positive ID. And in the People v. James the courts -"

He was cut off. "I see your point, Mr. Barba. I don't like it, but I am denying the motion to dismiss. For now."

He nodded. "Thank you, Your Honour."

Making a gloating comment to the opposing counsel, he walked out of the courtroom feeling quite pleased.


	39. Chapter 39

"How much smoke did you have to blow to make that happen?" Rollins asked after he'd explained what had transpired at the hearing.

"A lot," he said. That was an understatement. It had work, but barely. He looked at Olivia. "I want to try and cut a deal with this guy."

"Oh? Why?" A question for the ages, as his mother would say.

"I don't want to risk this mess," he admitted. "I just barely saved us from dismissal."

"I thought it was a motion hearing for the DNA?" Liv asked.

"It was," he agreed, "but our evidence is fruit from the poisoned tree, so to speak. The judge excludes that because it's dirty then everything we found solely because of the DNA would have to go too. We'd have no case."

"Was it close?" Rollins inquired.

"Very," he said. "If I can, I don't want this to go to trial with so little evidence."

He could make the case in trial, he felt, but then he'd felt the same way about Lewis, and that went poorly. He did not want to risk another person like that walking free because of him. He was in the clear now, he could proceed with the case, but now he needed to put a nail in the coffin, so to speak.

If he could cut a deal, it would be preferable. If he couldn't, well, he'd just destroy the guy during the trial and hope the bought time would allow them to uncover more evidence. There had to be_ something_. Another mistake.

"What's the plan?" the Lieutenant asked.

"Noone sent over a dozen "Dear Ben" letters," he said.

"They were taunting," Liv said.

"They were full of detail," he countered.

She understood. "He - he wanted to be caught."

"Yeah," Rafael said, "or he wanted to confess to Ben Stone. See, he saw him as a father figure." He picked up a card. "Look, he even sent him a Father's Day card."

"Where is Carisi?" he asked, just noticing the detective wasn't around.

"Talking to the niece, I think."

He nodded. "I'll get him on the phone. Maybe she knows something useful about her uncle. His childhood."

Within the hour he was down talking Noone. He'd been rather difficult at first, so Rafael started playing extremely sympathetic and starting casually talking about Ben Stone and whatnot. He wanted to play upon the relationship that he felt Infinity figured Ben and him had had.

If he could make the man emotional, he'd be less rational. When you're not rational, you make mistakes, and do stupid things, like... admit to your guilt on the stand in front of special prosecution.

Thank you Stone family for a very very good idea right now.

If anyone said he was taking a leaf out of Peter Stone's book, he'd deny it. Even under oath.

But he couldn't deny, it was the only plan he had right now.

Noone's attorney looked somewhat agitated and confused, which was amusing. He knew Rafael was up to something, but couldn't figure out what or even stop the rather emotional reaction Rafael had started getting out of his client.

Perfect.

He ended up explaining the rather sad affaire that the funeral was when Noone finally asked what had happened to Ben. He explained and went on to explain that it was Ben's very own son who had prosecuted him during his trial.

He started using things that had come from McCoy's very own speech during that funeral and made sure to lay it on thick.

"What are you doing, Counsellor?" Noone's lawyer hissed.

"Merely having a friendly chat," Rafael said. He read some from the letter from Infinity. "_Wondering if Mary would tell you what I did to her. What I made her say. If she would get the details right or if she would leave out the interesting parts because she was ashamed."_

"Infinity had a way with words," Noone said.

"That's probably what made him interesting to Ben Stone," Rafael said. "Ben studied him see. He read the letters over and over again looking for clues about the crimes. His life. About his traumatic childhood."

Thankfully, his niece had let the childhood abuse slip to Carisi.

He watched for a reaction from Noone.

"What do you mean?" Noone asked.

"Well, Mr. Noone, as a boy, Infinity was forced to listen while his father raped his mother."

"It explains the pathology, but I don't think any of that was in the books," Noone said. "And... and Ben Stone knew that?"

"Oh, Ben was obsessed," Rafael said. "I mean, he kept everything. This was one case he definitely took home. Look, he even kept the Father's Day card that Infinity sent him one year." He read the card. _"'Dear Ben, happy Father's Day.'_ Signed with the infinity symbol."

"Take a look," Rafael said.

"Ben Stone kept this?" Noone said, a glint in his eyes.

Cat catches the mouse. Rafael was pleased. "Yeah, he did. He kept it in an evidence file so it wouldn't get smudged or torn." Rafael laughed. "Of course, the dumb waste of space sent a card with golf clubs. It's funny because Ben was as athletic as I am. And believe me, no Little League team wanted me. Not that I didn't try."

"Infinity couldn't have known that, right?" Noone said.

"Shut up, Edgar," his lawyer said. "Be quiet."

"Because he knew nothing about Ben," Rafael said simply, speaking over the lawyer. "Not really."

"They had a relationship," Noone said.

"There was no relationship," Rafael said. "It was all in Infinity's head."

"All those hours Ben Stone spent on the case?" Noone said. "He spent more time with Infinity than he did with his own family!"

"Actually, Ben Stone cared about the women who were raped. He cared about getting justice for those victims," Rafael said. "If you think this was about you, you're more insane than I thought."

"No! That's not true! I know!" Noone cried out. Perfect.

"Edgar, please," his lawyer said.

"It was never about Infinity with Ben Stone," Rafael said. "It was always about justice. He didn't care about you!"

"Not true," Noone said. "You even admitted he was obsessed."

"Edgar," his lawyer said warningly.

"Only with getting justice," Rafael said. "My best guess is he hated Infinity."

"You know what?" Noone said with a sigh. "I would wait outside the D.A's office until the light in his office went out. Some nights, he wouldn't even get in his car until after midnight. It was me he cared about." He looked at Rafael. "Not you. Not McCoy. Not his son."

Rafael let him continue.

"Me! It was me he loved!" Edgar Noone was breathing heavy now.

"So, you did it?" Rafael asked

"Yes, I did it, you idiot!" Noone said. "And you want to sit there and judge me? Look in the mirror, my friend."

"I am nothing like you," he said softly.

"Oh, no?" Noone asked. "How did the power you held that day in the hospital room feel?"

"I saved an innocent child from further suffering," he said. "Not that I am particularly proud of my actions. I could have handled it better." Emotion seeped into his voice. "But you, you only seek to harm. To wield power. You raped and harmed so many people." He took a deep breath. "You and I, we are nothing alike. Nothing."

His lawyer sighed. "What do you want, Barba?"

"I want him behind bars," he said simply.

"Fine, let's talk deal."

"Only if he does double digits," Rafael said, feeling quite smug, "and the first one's a two."

He spent the next several hours getting a deal finalized and then finally headed home. Olivia was in the shower, and Noah was playing with legos in the living room.

"You're home."

"Yeah, I am."

"How were things with Lucy?"

"Good." There was something the boy wasn't saying.

"What's wrong, Noah? You can tell me."

"Nothing."

"Noah? Please."

"Do you know who my dad is?" Noah asked.

"Why?" The boy wasn't forthcoming. "Noah, tell me."

"Do you?"

"How did this come up?" Rafael asked. Is this what's been bothering you since school started?"

They'd known something was bothering him. He'd been upset when Liv came home early, said he wanted lucy, the olives, he'd pushed Rafael... just different things. He had gotten a lot better, though. He'd been great over Christmas.

"It's this kid Jeremy," Noah admitted. "For some time before Christmas vacation, he kept asking where my dad is. I told him he's in heaven."

"That's right, Noah," Rafael said. "He is."

"Did he love me?"

"Oh, Noah," he said. He had no idea what to do here. He knew what the boy wanted so badly to hear, but... "He was very very sick. He didn't get to know you as well as he may have liked, but how could someone not love such an amazing, funny, smart, young boy?"

Liv walked in, having heard the topic of conversation. He hadn't even noticed the shower was no longer running.

"Honey, when you get older, I promise you I'm gonna tell you all about him," she said to Noah, "but for right now, it's just... it's just Team US, ok? You, me, and Rafa. And I feel... So very lucky to be on that team."

"Me too," Noah said.

"Me three," he said, giving the boy a soft smile.

"I love you, Sweet boy," she said.

"How about I take Noah to the park for a while before dinner?" Rafael asked. "Let him run around some."

"Mama, can I?" the young boy asked, looking up at his mother with pleading eyes.

She glanced from Noah to Rafael and back again. He nodded.

"Sure, Honey," she said after a moment.

"Come on, Mijo," he said. "Go get ready."

While the boy went to get ready, Liv pulled him in for a hug. "Thank you."

"You have nothing to thank me for," he said, kissing her. "I'll see you in an hour."

Just then they were interrupted by a very excited Noah.

Amused, he threw Noah on his shoulders and headed out. All the while thoughts of adopting Noah running through his mind.

The thought scared him, but he really did love the little mischief-maker.

"Can we play tag?" Noah asked.

"Sure, Mijo!" he said, "You're it!"

"Not for long!" Noah said smugly. "I'm gonna get you!"

"You can try, you silly monkey!" he teased.

Rafael immediately started running, the sound of Noah's laughter filling his ears.


	40. Chapter 40

It was February 25 and Rafael was sitting in his office, having a coffee, taking a short break. He'd had a meeting earlier and then had prep with a domestic violence victim for her upcoming trial. He'd then spoke on the phone with the DA and updated him. Done with his meetings, he had just had some motions paperwork and police reports left to go through. He'd managed to finish going through all the paperwork, finally. Now, he was free until his cases further progressed, another motion was filed, or he got a new case. Basically, until tomorrow. If he was lucky.

At least, he'd be able to get it done as it was coming in and, hopefully, not fall quite as behind again. Thank god for that desk at home, though. He really appreciated the fact that Noah was so respectful of his space. He understood he couldn't play with the files and that if Rafael was in the study, if Noah came in, he needed Noah to be somewhat calm. He could come in, but no screaming or messing around. He did try and keep the week at home for after Noah was in bed, though. He did want to spend time with Noah, after all.

Honestly, a lot had gone on lately, and the last couple months had passed quickly. A lot of it seemed to blur together and it felt like more time had passed than really had.

He and Liv had talked more about the wedding, and they both agreed they wanted something smaller, more intimate. They hadn't set a date yet, but both wanted to wait until nicer weather as well.

Of course, Liv's birthday had been a few weeks back. Everyone had all gone out for a celebratory dinner. Noah had made one of Liv's gift by hand. A giant popup card. It looked great.

They'd also sat down and figured out more clearly what their plan of action would be for Noah's questions, although the young boy hadn't asked any more about Drake. He would follow Liv's lead complerely on this, but to do that they needed to be on the same page. He could understand Liv not wanting to lie to Noah, and he did give his stance - he didn't think Noah needed to know - but, this was one situation where he was going to give Olivia the reigns. It was her call. They did agree he was much to young for the moment, however. That hadn't even been a question.

Noah's behaviour had also gotten a lot better which was good, and he seemed to be enjoying school a lot more.

They'd also talked about his adopting Noah, and he'd already set up an appointment with Langan to talk about the process and what he'd need to do. He would be filing the paperwork until after the wedding, but still, these things took time.

Noah had also expressed interest in going to Kids Club, so after some talking they enrolled him in the Spanish Program on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, which the young boy was enjoying immensely. They did lots of different activities: stories, crafts, games, singing and dancing. He'd then get to come home and show off what he learned to him and Olivia.

He could actually have conversations now - nothing extremely complicated, but still - which the young boy was really proud of. His accent was getting quite good as well, although he still had slight difficulties with rolling his r.

"And to think I was ever concerned about speech delays," Liv had said one afternoon when Noah was showing off a song he'd learned that week: _Aserrín, Aserrán._

He'd also taken Noah to a really book store in the South Bronx and let Noah pick out some stories he thought looked interesting. Such as, _los Tres Chivitos Traviesos_. He bought himself a book, and let Noah pick a couple cartoons as well he could watch.

Speaking Spanish when they were one-on-one was becoming their thing. If Liv was there, it was English though, unless Olivia decided to practice. She was still studying it as well, trying to keep up with her son.

Noah was far from fluent, but he understood enough. The boy really did learn fast.

As for work, Rafael was as busy as ever.

There were a couple smaller, run of the mill, cases, but there were also a fair share of nastier ones. There was a really nasty domestic violence case where the wife killed the husband in retaliation. That was hard because it brought up a lot of issues with Lewis back up, and it killed him to see Liv in so much pain. Especially when he still suffered some guilt on that score. If he'd done his job the first time Lewis would have never gotten to her.

Then there was a mess with a prostitution ring, which he'd finally closed a week ago. Thank god for small mercies.

That had swung right into a disaster with Brian Cassidy and turned into a huge sex abuse scandal. Liv had been too close to the case and struggled with what to do, as Cassidy went into self-destruction mode.

When Liv was out with Noah, he'd shown up at their place asking for help. Cassidy hadn't known they were together and had meant to find Liv. He'd damn well screamed at Cassidy for his complete and utter stupidity and said if he'd ever cared about Olivia he'd turn himself in, not make her a damn coconspirator.

There'd been some arguing and Rollins had noticed that Rafael was still fuming the next day. He hadn't told Olivia, but he had confided in Rollins, who then unleashed her own fury on Cassidy. Both of them tried to knock some sense into the idiot.

Whatever Rollins had said had worked, because Cassidy, finally, showed up to the precinct, and let Rollins Mirandize him. He'd then given Cassidy Queen for a Day, knowing the man was innocent of the murder of the serial predator, and started working to figure out the truth of what happened.

It had been a disaster, but Olivia had finally managed to get Cassidy to testify, which he'd refused to do before.

It had ended as well as they could have hoped, given the situation.

Then was a particularly messy case where these two teenagers girls ended up being manipulated by an abuser. The father had paid with his life.

The cases with children were always the hardest.

Thankfully, that horrible case ended on a good note. Rollins finally had her baby. Little Billie was honestly quite cute, although he had managed to avoid having to hold the baby. Much to Rollins' amusement.

He wasn't shocked to see Carisi fawning over the infant and Jesse, and just being there for Rollins. Anyone could see Carisi had feelings for Rollins, but he doubted that anything was going to come of it anytime soon, which he understand in a way. She had just broken up with Pollack. And that wasn't the only thing to consider.

Rollins was finally back from maternity leave, so that had been a bit of an adjustment for her, though the squad was thrilled to have her back.

Liv hadn't been thrilled about the Rookie she'd been sent to cover for Rollins. Rafael had found Detective Bardsley annoying but eager. A more irritating version of Carisi, frankly, with zero experience and nowhere close to the legal knowledge.

Ah well. He wasn't bad exactly, just a little too much to take at seven in the morning.

He was pulled out of his musings when there was a knock on his door.

He turned around, his back now to the window.

"Calhoun, please don't tell me your bringing more paperwork."

She laughed. "Not this time, Barba. I was in the area and thought I'd see how you are."

"Ah, so you've just tormented another poor ADA."

"Perhaps," she said. "I've heard whispers."

"Of?"

"Of a certain EADA appointment come May," she said with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm trying not to get my hopes up, Rita."

"So, he has talked to you."

"Yes."

"Good."

"Why?"

"It's well earned," she said, "and about damn time."

"Hmmm," he said, amused, "do I detect a ting of approval from the same woman who told me she couldn't believe Harvard let me in?"

"Haha," Rita said. "Don't let it go to your fat head."

"Some might say it's too late for that," he said with a chuckle.

"You're incorrigible."

"Says the woman with a yacht."

"A damn nice one too," she said smugly. "Jealous?"

"Hardly," he said wryly. "Coffee Saturday?"

"Sure," she said. "I should be free. I'll text you."

"Perfect." Just then his phone rang.

"Barba speaking," he said, answering his phone without looking.

"Rafa, it's me," Olivia said. "I have a another case for you. A young girl was found in the trunk of an abandoned car. A kidnapping's involved."

"Jesus," he said, stomach dropping. "I'll head to the precinct right now."

"Bad case?"

He raised an eyebrow as if it say, "What do you think?" He looked at Rita. "It involves a kid. Sorry to cut this short but -"

"I get it," she said. "Come on, I'll give you a ride."


	41. Chapter 41

He walked into the Squad Room, took off his suit jacket, and placed the jacket on a chair. He then turned around and look at the squad members who were present.

"Is it as bad as it sounded on the phone?" he asked.

"The girl's name is Bailey Shaw. She is six years old. Her parents are Griffin Shaw and Jamie Johnston," Olivia explained. "Now, she hasn't been overly harmed, but she was scared, nonetheless." He nodded. Of course, the little girl had probably been terrified, even if she hadn't been physically harmed. "The main concern is that the next child that goes missing won't be as fortunate."

"Alright," he said. "So, bring me up to speed."

Wasting no time, the team started filling him in.

Apparently, a man was in traffic, more than a little irate, waiting for a parking space. Someone else driving a Saturn pulled in the spot he'd been waiting for and the first man got out of the car and started a fight. Police had been in the area, called by a bystander, and quickly intervened. The man who took the parking spot ran off.

"Do we have any of this on video?" he asked.

"Yes, a woman filmed it on her phone," Olivia explained.

He nodded.

"So, the man -" and Olivia trailed back off into the story. The man who had been waiting for the spot explained the situation to the officers and the aforementioned woman showed the video to the police. The guy tried to justify his actions, saying the other man was rude. While that was happening, one of the officers looked in the car of the man who ran off. The female officer heard a noise from the truck and opened it up, finding the little girl, who had been wide awake. That was when SVU received the call, along with a bus to check on the girl.

Olivia and Rollins had then gone to the hospital to talk to the girl and her family. They spoke with the doctor who had Bailey on fluids as she was cold and hungry, She was in the trunk for a while. Her pants were on inside-out. Thankfully, the rape kit showed no sign of penetration for foreign fluids.

When they finally got to talk to the family they learned from Griffin that his husband Jamie had taken Bailey ice skating in Central Park and he went to the bathroom and when he came back she was gone. Bailey explained that her father told her to wait for him, but she walked away with the man. She did not know him. He gave her a candy apple and said he was a friend of her father. He was nice to her and let her wear his scarf to get warm. She said it was yellow like Big Bird. He said they could wait for her father in his car which was better than standing in the cold. Then they drove off and the man said her father would meet them.

They asked if she knew where he took her, and she said she thought it was his house. She wasn't sure. Once at the house, they took their clothes off and took a nap. When asked about a name she had she hadn't been given one, just that she could call him Big Bird, which she thought was silly. Olivia had asked the girl if they'd played any 'games' and the girl had thankfully said no. They just snuggled under the blankets. That was when Jamie finally got to the hospital.

They'd canvased a second time, at Olivia's request, and that's when Rollins found out that Bailey's fathers had used surrogacy. Rollins went to talk to the birth mother, hoping that would lead to something.

"Did CSU find anything?"

"CSU pulled prints of the Saturn, but no hits," Fin said.

"Well, what about the cellphone video?" he asked.

"With TARU," Fin said. "We may get lucky and get a hit on the facial recognition. I, of course, called in an arrest-for in all five boroughs."

"Good," he said. "At least that's something. Anything else I need to know?"

"Yes," Carisi said. "The registered owner of the Saturn died two weeks ago. His son sold it in an estate sale last week."

"Okay, what about the new owner?" Rafael asked. "He's a mystery man. He saw the sign on the car window, he knocked on the door, he paid all cash. He never registered the title."

"I also had them canvas twice," Olivia added.

"And nothing?" he said. "Jesus." He put his hand to his mouth. "It's Central Park, somebody had to see something."

"Maybe Rollins'll come up with something," Fin said.

He sighed. "Call me if you find something."

Fin nodded. "Grab us some snacks?"

"I damn well spoil you people," he said. "Give me twenty and I'll be back. Any requests?"

"Surprise us," Fin said, feeling rather pleased with himself.

Shaking his head, he made his way out of the door.

"Thank you!" Olivia called after him.

He made a gesture with his right hand before making his way out of the building. He got in the uber and gave the driver the address of one of the bodega he regularly frequented: Village Gourmet Grocery.

He wasn't particularly chatty, but barely eleven minutes later they were in the small parking lot. Getting out, and waving the driver off, he quickly called EADA Lee to inform him of the case and what was going on. He'd then walked the few feet towards the main entrance to the bodega. He was starting to turn the doorknob, and that was when something caught his attention.

The Bodega's owner, Santiago Ramirez, wasn't alone, and he recognized the man with him. He could also just make out a knife. Shit.

He quickly sent a text off to Fin. 'Get down here now. Hostage situation on 2nd Ave. It's Saturn thief.'

'Shit, Man. Any weapons? Are you inside? On my way.'

He thought about what to say. He took a deep breath and decided to lie. He'd apologize for the mess later. Pulling himself together he tried to think of a plan. Deciding to act like he was already in the store, he snuck around the back. He grabbed the first thing he saw on the shelf nearest him when he walked in - a bag of cookies. Then he put his head down, and walked up, pretending he had no idea what was going on. He shot off a quick text to the Sargent. 'He pulled a switchblade. Yes. I'm in the back. Going to try and stall.'

Taking a deep breath, he shoved his phone in his pocket.

"Sorry, sir, we're closed," Santiago said.

Rafael looked up, pretending to be confused. "Disculpe, no entendí. Ya pedí ayuda. Puede repetir eso?" (Sorry, I didn't understand. I already called for help. Can you repeat that for me?)

He heard the robber mumble a question to Santiago. He wanted to know what he said. Santiago, thankfully, played along. And Rafael was able to get another couple comments in before the robber got irritated.

"Tell him it's on the house and to get out."

Santiago nodded. "Qué hacemos? Él quiere que te vayas." (What do we do? He wants you to leave.)

"Okay," he said, deliberately showing off his Cuban accent. "Pronto. ¿Puedo comprar aspirina?" (Soon. Can I get some aspirin?)

"He wants some aspirin," Santiago explained.

"Fine," the man grumbled, turning around to get some.

Good, that bought him a little time to think and got the knife off of Santiago for a bit. He quickly wracked his brain for another idea. Thankfully, he'd always been good at thinking on his feet. "Dile que fui a buscar una botella de agua," Rafael ordered. (Tell him I went to get a bottle of water.)

"Okay," Santiago said, and Rafael took his sweet time when he went to the bag. He needed time to think. To think and to plan. He needed to buy some more time. Not knowing what else to do, he accidentally knocked a shelf over and started apologizing profusely.

The robber was now clearly irritated but trying to hide it. He still thought Rafael was clueless about what was going on. If the situation wasn't so serious, he would have laughed. He wasn't the stupid one here.

He managed to insist on helping clean up the mess, in purposely broken English, and to get a handful other comments in.

He was running out of ideas and time. He was honestly beginning to panic when, finally, Fin and Carisi arrived. Good, that was good. They'd be able to handle the situation better. They, at least, had guns and had dealt with these situations before.

It wasn't long after that when Liv showed up, presumably ESU not far behind. She looked panicked. He hated doing this to her, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to just call it in and walk away either.

"What did you do?" the robber yelled. He seemed mad at first glance, but Rafael had been around perps and victims enough to know when someone was terrified and in over their head. He recognized the look in the man's eyes.

Rafael looked at the younger man. "You clearly don't watch the news."

"What!" he said, freaking out. "You speak English?"

"My name's ADA Rafael Barba," he said, fully dropping the act, "and my team has actually been trying to find you all day."

"DAMN IT ALL!" the robber said, smashing his hand down on the counter rather violently. "Ok, I need to think... I just... this wasn't meant to happen."

"Then put the knife down," he said calmly.

"Shut up," the robber said. "Just shut up!"

The bodega's phone rang. "That'll be the police. They'll want to talk this out."

"Did I not tell you to shut up?" the man scoffed.

"I'm a senior Assistant District Attorney," he said. "ESU will barge in here if you don't talk to them."

"Talk this out," the man said with a laugh. "Yeah, right."

"It's your only chance. Either that or put the knife down and walk out with me," Rafael said. "We just walk out, calmly."

Unfortunately, if Rafael thought it was going to be that easy, he was wrong. He'd then spent the next several minutes trying to convince the guy to trust him. ESU was seconds from barging in when Rafael finally managed to get make progress in getting through to the man.

"We're going in," a member of ESU said.

"No!" Rafael shouted. He turned to the robber. "Change your mind, put the knife down. This is your last chance."

This time, the young man listened.

"Fine. Fine!" The young man pointed to Rafael. "You. Walk me out. The owner can stay here. I'm not dropping the knife, however. Not yet."

"Your call," Rafael replied, quickly swallowing his fear when he felt the knife pressed to his own throat. "I need to tell them what's going on or they'll come in. Nobody wants that. It'll end badly for everyone."

The young man nodded. "Do it."

Not wasting any time, Rafael called out loudly to let ESU know what was happening. "Knife is down, he's not armed." His voice was surprisingly steady. "We're coming out. Don't shoot. Do not shoot."

Once they were outside, Rafael, hands trembling slightly, told them to put their guns down.

None of the ESU officers wanted to at first, but he managed to convince them to comply. Once they did, the young man, finally, removed the knife. Rafael let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding. Then everything happened so fast and all Rafael registered was Fin tackling the robber as he tried to run and cuffing him.

Olivia immediately ran up to Rafael, throwing her arms around him. "You idiot. You dumb, brave, idiot."

He hugged her back tightly. "I'm okay," he assured her, "I'm right here, Cariño."


	42. Chapter 42

After giving his statement to the responding officers he wasted no time getting back on the case. Liv had protested it, saying he should go relax and give himself a break, but he pointed out her actions during the Byron Marks case and assured her he was fine.

He hadn't decided if he was going to press charges yet for assault. He wasn't aware of Santiago's decision on the matter either, but he wouldn't be the one prosecuting on Santiago's behalf, regardless.

Olivia thought he should press charges, but he was up in the air about it.

He fought her on going home, and she rolled her eyes but soon realized she wasn't about to win the argument and began to fill him in. Rafael could be very stubborn when he wanted to be, and he hadn't done anything that Liv hadn't done or worse.

It was a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black.

Olivia and Rollins had been at the birthmother, Paige Black's, house when the lieutenant received the call about the bodega incident apparently, and now Paige Black was in custody, currently being talked to by Rollins.

"So, let me get this straight," Rafael said, "we now think it's the birth mother who's behind this?"

"It's plausible. She relinquished her rights at birth but has numerous photos of her on her phone," Olivia said. "She was also particularly unhelped, and wanted to hide the fact."

While at the apartment, Paige explained that once Bailey was born she relinquished all her rights to the birth father, Griffin Shaw. When the lieutenant asked if she was never curious, Paige replies she was, adding she carried her for 9 months but a deal's a deal. Apparently, the agency prepared her with counsellors and shrinks. She had then inquired as to if something happened to Bailey. Rollins explained Bailey was fine – now – asking if her boyfriend was home. Paige questioned what that had to do with anything and then said she didn't like the way the conversation was going.

Moments later, she had received a message on her phone and she grabbed it and walked away from them, trying to conceal it. The lieutenant asked if Paige minded if she took a look at it, and Paige replied she did. Olivia was never one to back down and immediately pointed out that Rollins could get a warrant. Rollins also added her two cents, pointing out they would be in the exact same position again, only Rollins would be a lot madder because of her time being wasted.

Paige finally conceded and unlocked her phone upon being asked again to cooperate and open the photo app. Olivia scrolled through many photos of Bailey and then told Paige she was under arrest. Paige had been shocked, asking why. Rollins explained that it was for stalking for starters, and thinks they will tack on kidnapping. As Rollins cuffed her, Paige questioned it being a crime to take pictures of her daughter. Olivia had then received the call from Fin and told Rollins to take Paige down to the precinct.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time we've seen this," Rafael said. "Hopefully Rollins finds something. Shall we go and watch Mr. Wonderful's interrogation?"

"Lead the way," she said, gesturing towards the room where Soren West was being held.

It really wasn't a long distance to Interrogation 2.

He did have to admit, it was weird to see how much smaller someone who had previously tried to intimidate you looked in an interrogation room. He'd felt the same way with Heredio and the line-up.

"Could have taken any car," West said, somewhat frantically, "I had to take the one with the baby in the trunk."

"Some guys are just unlucky," Fin said without much sympathy.

"Do you believe me? West asked.

"No," Fin said without preamble. "Where'd you boost that car?"

"Parking lot from a minimart in Jamaica, West said. "God, man, God. Look, I'm a lowlife. A scumbag car thief, okay? I admit it."

"A 2003 Saturn," Fin said, "You're not a good one."

"See?" West said. "Everyone knows that I'm a moron. I'm way... I'm way too stupid to kidnap someone. There's no way I could have done it. I was with my girl all morning. I was with Lee Anne. That's why I took the wheel. She was late for her job interview. I dropped her, I stopped for a pack of smokes. That's when that maniac slugged me."

"That might have been the best thing to happen to you," Fin said.

Rafael looked at his fiancee. "At least he admits he's a moron."

She had to stifle a laugh. "Not all of us can be Harvard graduates. Focus, would you?"

He waved off her comment. "Who mentioned Harvard?" he deadpanned. "I was thinking about a small community college."

she rolled her eyes. "You really are feeling charitable today."

He smirked, but his reply was interrupted when Carisi entered the room.

"Hey, you two!" the detective said, "we're wasting our time here. Bailey couldn't ID photos of either one of them."

"Well, I was kinda rooting for Mr. Wonderful," the lieutenant said, gesturing in the direction of the room.

"Yeah, about West," Carisi said, "he's got two outstanding warrants for possession."

"Surprise, surprise," Rafael said.

"What do you want to do?"

"How about we tack on auto theft and assault with a weapon?" Rafael said. "Then he can sit in Rikers."

"Perfect," the lieutenant said. "You heard the man, Carisi."

"On it, Lieu!" Carisi said.

They weren't alone long before Rollins approached, saying Paige may have given them something, showing them a photo of Bailey from Central Park with a man wearing a yellow scarf. Paige said she did not know who he is, but at least they now knew what the man looked like. That was a start.

Liv considered the situation. "Go see how CSU is doing with the Saturn."

When they were alone, he turned to Liv. He leaned in and kissed her. "I'm going to swing by the office to get some paperwork done for about an hour. I'll go home and relieve Lucy after that unless you need me."

"Ok," she said, kissing him again. "Don't get into to much trouble."

"You clearly have spent too much time with Mami," he said with a snort. "I'm not that bad."

"Tonight's actions say otherwise," she replied, kissing him again. "Don't scare the hell out of me again, you idiot. Now, go, before I change my mind about letting you out of my sight."

He rolled his eyes. "I won't burn the house down."

"Yes," she deadpanned, "because the house is my concern right now." She squeezed his hand. "I love you."

"Even when I'm an idiot?" he inquired.

"Yes," she said, giving him a small smile. "Even then."


	43. Chapter 43

Rafael had managed to get some paperwork done before heading home and relieving Lucy, who helped Noah clean up his toys before heading out. He played lego some with Noah before bringing up homework.

Noah had a spelling test coming up so they reviewed those and working on his addition, which he was doing quite well with.

"¿Puedo ver la tele, por favor?" (Can I watch TV, please?)

"Puedes más tarde mientras preparo la cena," he replied. "Sólo un episodio. Quiero que te bañes antes. Take a shower first." (You can later while I prepare dinner. One episode only. I want you to take a shower first.)

"Ok, Rafa!" the young boy said, running to do as asked.

"¡No corras! No running!" He shook his head, amused at the enthusiasm. Even when work was hell, coming home to Noah and Liv made it worth it. Noah's bubbly personality could melt the horror of the day in seconds, even when work left him and Liv mentally and physically exhausted. He was a great reminder that there was still good in the world at the end of the day.

After Noah washed up and picked his clothes out for the next day he pulled out a deck of cards and set up a game of Go Fish.

"Just wait until you lose."

He laughed. "Nunca me desafies. Don't you know by now never to issue me a challenge?"

Noah grinned. "Mama taught me a new trick."

"She did, did she?" Rafael inquired, quirking an eyebrow. "¿Mamá te enseñó un nuevo truco?" He often spoke to Noah like this now so Noah would pick up the vocabulary he hadn't yet learned. His comprehension was better than his expression, which was perfectly normal. Both would improve in time. Rafael did make a conscious effort to slow down his speech a smidge, however, when speaking Spanish. He was usually quite a rapid-fire speaker, and that wouldn't help Noah at the present, only frustrate him.

"Sí," the young boy said, "but I won't tell you what it is. No diré."

"¡No es justo! Now, that's just not fair," he said dramatically. "I guess I'll just have to wait and see if it's as good as you say. Qué tal si vas primero?" (How about you go first?)

"De acuerdo," Noah said with a grin. "¡Buena suerte!" (Ok. Good luck!)

Noah certainly was something else. "Gracias," he said, amused. "Creo que lo necesitaré." (Thank you. I think I'll need it.)

"Oh, lo necesitarás." (Oh, you'll need it.)

He shook his head, amused. "Veremos." (We shall see.)

While they played, they chatted about Kids Club. Noah had learned a new game and commented it was sad the game didn't work with only two people. Rafael assured him it was fine and Noah went off explaining everything and anything about the game.

He was glad Noah was having such a great time.

After three rounds, two of which Rafael lost, he bowed down to Noah's superior Go Fish skills and let the energetic boy pick one of his Spanish DVDs to watch.

Once Noah was settled, he went to the kitchen, shot off a text to his fiancée, and started rummaging through cupboards to see what he had to work with for dinner.

Olivia had quickly replied, saying she wouldn't be home too late, as there wasn't much more they could do for the case that evening. So, unless something major came up, she intended to be home.

A smile on his lips, he resumed his search and finally settled on a tomato salad with diced Mozza cheese, pork chops, and fries.

He had just finished telling Noah to go wash his hands when Liv walked in.

"Hi, Love!" she said, putting her hands around his waist and pulling him in for a kiss. "Dinner smells great."

"Don't get too excited, Cariño," he said, "It's just pork-chops and fries."

"Fine with me," she said, smiling softly.

He kissed her again. "We really should set a date."

"You impatient man," she said teasingly, as he moved closer to her.

"You have no idea, Cariño," he whispered into her ear.

Then, with one hand there in her hair, thumb stroking her temple tenderly, he planted warm kisses from her jawline down to the last bit of exposed skin on her neck, then trailing back up again.

"Have I told you yet how beautiful you are?" he inquired.

"Yes, but I never get tired of hearing it," she said, kissing him again.

"EW!" Noah said, having clearly just entered the room - both adults previously oblivious to the fact.

Rafael and Olivia both laughed.

"Sorry not sorry, Mijo," he said. "Let's go have dinner shall we?"

Olivia looked at her son. "Rafa's got a good idea. What do you think?"

"You're silly," Noah said. "Rafa made fries. Who doesn't want fries?"

Rafael tried and failed to stifle a laugh. "Come on then, Mijo. Let's go eat."

The next morning Liv left for work at eight and Rafael accompanied Noah to school. He then swung by a coffee shop a two-minute walk from his office, talked with Carmen about his schedule and set to work on going through his police reports.

He'd only been at his office for a few moments when Matthew Braden showed up. He was the Defence Council for Matthews vs. Brown. A date rape case he was working on. The girl had clearly been drugged.

They had a witness, surveillance footage medical reports, a tox screen and the perps DNA. There were text messages as well that proved they'd made plans to meet the night in question. It was an airtight case.

Braden apparently agreed, and basically tried everything to cut a deal.

Rafael had told Braden that he could escort himself out of his office and they'd see each other in court.

He'd then gone back to his paperwork.

Rather pleased with the dent he made in his paperwork and considering getting another coffee, he checked the time. The D.A should be there soon. True to form, mere moments later there was a knock on the door.

He closed his laptop and folder, turning to the D.A to give him his full attention. "Hello, sir."

"How are your cases going?"

"No new information on any of them, unfortunately," he said. "Well, after we talked on the phone yesterday, Linda Mills finally agreed to testify. And prep with James Woodell went well. I think he's more than credible."

"That's good," McCoy said, looking pleased.

"Very."

Currently, he had two run-of-the-mill college party rape cases, which weren't the most complicated, and three Domestic Violence cases. One where the wife still refused to testify and two where the wives were, thankfully, willing. There was another date rape case as well, in addition to Matthews vs. Brown, where the male victim was clearly struggling. He also had a parental kidnapping case, by the mother, who had alleged abuse. No signs of abuse had been found, so the mother was charged with kidnapping and interference with custody.

SVU's investigations were complete, so now the cases just had to see their day in court, which could more than occasionally take more than a little time.

He had been able to cut a deal on another Domestic Violence case, however. The girlfriend hadn't wanted to cooperate, so his hands were tied in some ways. He got the best deal he could so at least something was being done about the abuser. Maybe she'd come forward in the future, but she wasn't ready, and pushing wasn't about to get them anywhere when it was he said she said and so little evidence. The situation really was a mess.

Then there was SVU's main investigation into what happened with Bailey Shaw.

Ah well, not the heaviest caseload he's ever had.

"Any progress on the Bailey Shaw case?"

"As of last night, no, Jack." Rafael absentmindedly tapped on his desk with a finger. "Lieutenant Benson should have an update for me soon, however. She sent Det. Carisi and Sgt. Tutuola downtown to see if there was any more evidence recovered from the Saturn."

"Let's hope they recover something then."

"Indeed."

"Are you going to the summit this Sunday?" McCoy asked.

McCoy was obviously referring to the Prosecutors Against Gun Violence Summit: Kids and Guns.

"Of course," he said. "I was one of the first to put my name on the list. Yourself?"

Throughout the year, Prosecutors Against Gun Violence hosted national summits to share best practices and discuss major gun violence initiatives and policies. They were hosted in different locations and this one was local, so Rafael immediately signed up. Carisi as well, surprisingly. It didn't pay for a prosector to not keep up with new laws, regulations, and changes that were happening.

"Oh, I'll be there," McCoy said. "Rather expected to be. Now, what's this I hear about you and Lt. Benson speaking at Lenox Hill next month?"

He glanced at McCoy searchingly. "We were asked. We accepted."

"Man of many words as usual," McCoy deadpanned. "Care to elaborate?"

He smirked. "We're going to be discussing the Rape Kit Backlog. It was an opportunity we both felt we couldn't pass up. You know how bad the problem is currently."

"That, I do. That's one area where funding is a problem," McCoy agreed. "Not just in my jurisdiction either. We are trying."

"I'm aware," he said. "It's bigger than just you, Jack. You're hardly at fault."

"I wish you the best of luck at the conference then," the D.A said.

"Thank you. Was there anything else, sir?"

"No, Rafael," McCoy said. "How are you, however?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"You were held at knifepoint."

"I'm fine, Jack," he said. "I appreciate the concern, however."

"If you're sure," McCoy said, "I'll be on my way. I have other ADAs to torment yet."

He rolled his eyes. "Then who am I to keep you from your fun. Go torment away."

"It's the small joys," the man deadpanned.

He gave a wry smile. "Oh, I know. Go torment away."

Amused, the District Attorney took his leave.

Taking a bit of a break from police reports, he went back to doing some research for some legal precedent for his cases.

He'd been knee-deep in case law for several hours when his cell phone rang and a picture of Liv popped up on the screen. Perfect. Hopefully, she had some news for him.

"Barba."

"Hello, Councillor. I hope I'm not interrupting?"

He rolled his eyes, not caring that she couldn't see him. "The dusty pages of legal precedent can wait. What do you got for me?"

"We've finally got a lead," she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

She then went on to explain that when Fin and Carisi spoke with CSU they were shown all the trash inside the car. Carisi apparently more than a little dramatic, walked up and just spilled the contents of a coffee cup and managed to find a parking lot ticket with a location, time-stamped the day of the kidnapping.

Idiots. How had CSU missed that?

The sergeant and detective had then gone down to Chariot ParkFast to speak with an attendant. They'd then been directed to Patsy's Puppets just down the block. Fin and Carisi went there and spoke with a puppet guy, Marv. He explained the man in the photo they'd brought had applied for a job there and that he was kind of "off." Marv had then kindly handed over the man's application with his name and address. They had a name now. Emerson Mauer.

They went to Mauer's house and once Bailey was mentioned, the suspect ran.

Needless to say, Carisi had fun tackling the guy and arresting him. He was now sitting in interrogation.

He told Olivia he'd be at the precinct soon, requested an Uber, and shot off a text to the D.A to let the man know what was going on. Hopefully, this lead would prove to be what they needed to finally nail this case.

A half-hour and a coffee later he was outside the interrogation room.

He watched as Emerson Mauer was questioned by Carisi. He said he frequented Central Park on his days off, and Carisi commented that he must go to watch the kids. Mauer became indignant and explained the history of the park. Mauer claimed to not know Bailey, saying his car was stolen from the mini-mart parking lot. Carisi pointed out that Mauer never reported the car stolen and that he wondered why that was. Carisi received no reply.

Interrogation done, they walked back to the squad room.

"Well, this one'll be a slice," he said sardonically.

"That's one word for it," she said.

"As it stands, Liv, I'm pretty sure I can get an indictment," Rafael said, "but I'll never get the conviction."

"Okay, well, how does it look for a search warrant?"

"Forensics? DNA? Fingerprints? Anything?"

She sighed. "No. That's why we need a search warrant."

"Lieutenant -"

"I need that warrant, Counsellor."

Olivia then noticed two men and a young girl waiting. She then pointed them out to Rafael more as a quick introduction than anything. "That's Bailey and her parents."

He nodded. "Lieutenant, this case is circumstantial at best. I need something tangible and I'll get you your warrant."

He needed a piece of direct evidence if he was ever going to make a case.

Olivia nodded. She did understand, even if she wasn't thrilled.

He turned to the family. "Thank you for coming, gentlemen." He got down to eye level, as Bailey was seated in Rollins' chair. "Hello. You must be Bailey. I'm Rafael."

He stood up and shook the fathers' hands. "I'm Rafael Barba. I'll be prosecuting the case."

"Are you going to put the bad man in jail?" Bailey asked.

"I'll do everything in my power to, Bailey," he said, getting down to her level once more.

"Thank you, Rafael."

"No need to thank me, Bailey," he said, giving the girl a small smile.

He stood back up and the lieutenant spoke to the fathers. "So, the good news is, is we think we have him."

"Good," Griffin said.

"Bailey, I bet you like puzzles," Liv said. "Is that true? 'Cause we have a whole bunch of them in that room right over there."

Bailey looked up at her fathers. "Can I?"

"Of course," Griffin replied.

"Okay," the lieutenant said, offering the little girl her hand and leading her away.

"How is she doing?"

"She has night screams," Jamie said.

"She seems like a strong kid," he said. "She'll be ok."

Griffin sighed. "What's his name?"

"Emerson Mauer."

"Never heard of him," Jamie said.

"Nor I," Griffin said.

"So he's just some random pervert, then?" Jamie said.

Griffin wasn't pleased by that comment. "You're not helping, Jamie."

Jamie didn't care. "She said they got naked and got into bed. She's six years old. That's perverted."

Rafael did have to agree on that.

"I know this is difficult," Rafael said, "but clearer heads will prevail here."

The fathers had some questions for him, which he answered and then they were just wasting time. Thankfully, Bailey's interview didn't take to long and before any time at all Olivia had come out to escort them to her office and say that Bailey IDed a photo of Emerson.

Finally, it seemed like they might have a win.

"That should convince a jury of the bastard's peers," Olivia said.

"Hold on," Griffin said, "we're not gonna let her testify."

"No way," Jamie said, "absolutely not."

"Then I'll let you know right now I have no case," Rafael said. "I need your daughter's testimony."

Seriously, this entire case was about to turn to ash.

"All those people staring at her?" Griffin said. "Not a chance. She's not going to court, and that's all we have to say."

"She can testify by video conference," Rafael countered.

"But his lawyer gets to question her," Griffin said.

"Mr. Mauer belongs behind bars. He's a child predator," Rafael said, irritation leaking into his voice. "You both have a civic duty."

"We both have a duty to our child," Griffin said.

Great. Just great.

"Do you really to be responsible for him having the chance to do this to another little girl?" he said, tone making it clear as day what he thought of the situation.

Olivia looked at him, warning him to be careful and not totally alienate the parents.

"Of course not," Jamie said, "but we're not going to subject our baby girl to more trauma. A defence attorney ripping her story apart? No, it's better she forget the whole thing."

"Then we're dead in the water," Rafael said. "Unfortunately, the next little girl might not be as lucky as Bailey."

"Griffin," Jamie said, "help me out."

"The truth is," Griffin said, "for obvious reasons, Bailey has a much harder time than most kids. We go to a school play, we get stared at. And not just by the children."

"That's all in your head," Jamie said gently, putting his hands on Griffin's shoulders.

"Still, kids can be very mean. Something like this can leave more scars."

Olivia put her hands on the desk, glancing back and forth between the fathers. "Okay, this may be the only way -"

"Might be?" Rafael retorted, more than a little displeased. "It _is_ the only way. We would do everything in our power to protect her throughout the proceedings, but I need her testimony if I'm going to have any chance at a conviction."

"I'm sorry," Griffin said, standing up, "as far as we're concerned, this is over."

"Let's get her home," Jamie said, handing Griffin Bailey's jacket.

Once both men had left the room, he turned to Liv and when he spoke his voice was beyond sardonic. "The Titanic meets my first year of Little League."

"It's bad, yes, but I can still swear in an affidavit that she IDed Mauer," the lieutenant said, a lilt of desperation in her voice.

"Liv -"

"It'll get us a warrant to search his house."

He threw his hands up. "Iffy."

"Rafael..."

He sighed. "I can make a call."

"Thank you."


	44. Chapter 44

Rita Calhoun had finished delivering her closing argument, which was a load of nonsense in his opinion, and Rafael had immediately jumped into his. He felt confident about his case and closing argument. The trial had been rocky. Winning the jury over hadn't been easy, but he'd been trying. He figured he'd managed to win over half of them, at the very least, which hadn't been easy. Now he just had to seal the deal, so to speak.

Rafael moved closer to the jury, glancing at all of them. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "this case and your decision are important. We saw the video. We heard her excuses, the denials. You may be asking, 'how is it any of our business to interfere in another couple's marriage? We don't know what goes on behind closed doors.' No, but we do know that, as a society, we have evolved beyond the idea that people can be property, that what they feel, what they experience doesn't matter. By hitting her husband, by knocking him out with a lamp, Mrs. Sladen is saying that Mark doesn't matter. She showed gross disregard for his safety, for his very life. Now, he has a child with her, and yes, he loves her. That's why he stayed so long. To no fault of his own. Now that he's come forward, it's imperative we act and send a clear message."

Strategically, he paused, moving back to the center of the room. "Defence wants you to believe that a man can't be abused by a woman. That is quite clearly false. History will show this time and time again. Men can be victims of domestic violence too. You've heard a medical professional testify to the fact. Though domestic violence against men isn't always easy to identify, it does, nonetheless, pose a very threat. Male or female, domestic violence is wrong."

He glanced around at the jurors again. "To not convict her is plainly and simply wrong," he continued. "It sends a message that it is okay to be a bully in your own home, to control, to intimidate, to physically injure your spouse. This is not okay. We must not stand by and by our silence say that it is acceptable to look the other way. Physical violence against another human being is a crime, even if he's _just_ her husband."

He took his seat again and waited for Judge Seligman to send the jury to deliberate.

He waited a moment and then spotted Olivia walking up. The other detectives were currently occupied with the Mauer debacle.

"Thank you for coming."

"What's going on?" she asked.

"My gut is when the jury gets back from lunch, they'll return a guilty verdict," he said without preamble. "Mark and his daughter, each of their stories reinforced the other. Plus Dr. Taylor's testimony -"

"Okay," she said, "What do you think she's looking at?"

"She'll likely get the minimum," he said, "two years." He then quickly sent off a text message, replying to his mother. She wanted to do dinner but he wasn't sure when it would be feasible. Although, Saturday might work. He said he'd talk to Liv.

"Eddie?"

"My mother," he said, shoving his phone in his pocket. "What've you got for me concerning the Mauer case?"

He hoped she had _something_.

"Let's go grab some lunch," she said, "and I'll fill you in."

Leaving the courthouse, they walked over to a sandwich shop and took their orders to go. The pair then made their way to Stumptown Coffee where Olivia managed to steal them seats rather quickly, while he ordered their coffees.

They ate some before the lieutenant began filling him in.

Once he got them a warrant for Emerson Mauer's home they'd gone and dug through everything. Carisi had noticed a strange patch of grass, which led them to find a skeleton buried in Emerson's backyard and the bones belonged to that of a male child. Perfect. Another child victim.

When Rowan Mauer was brought in for questioning she'd lost it with Carisi rather quickly and said her ex-husband did that, not her.

According to Rowan Mauer, her ex-husband was an evil bastard and then she slipt up and said it was like father like son. The detectives knew that Emerson was a predator working his way up to something and it did make sense he could have a similar predilection to his father. The father had run off years ago apparently and so all they had was Rowan making accusations, though the bones in the backyard had been old. Too old for Emerson to have done it. It was looking more and more like the father was a pedophile as well.

They'd also gotten DNA from a young boy named Kevin Brown at the house, on a shirt, and looked into that. The boy was abducted from Forest Park in 2002 when he was 6. It was too soon to tell if the DNA matched the bones in the back yard. He was survived by his sister, Diane. Because of when the boy was kidnapped it must have been Emerson Mauer's father that took him. Emerson himself would have been too young.

"I hate this," Liv said.

He squeezed her hand. "You're not the only one."

She then went back to explaining that once again the woman denied having anything to do with it all. She wasted no time in throwing her son and ex-husband under the bus: _They did it, not her, and nobody could prove otherwise._

Emerson's mother definitely had an attitude.

He shook his head. "Res ipsa loquitor."

"Funny," the lieutenant said, swallowing her last bite of food, "that's what Carisi said."

"If she didn't have something to do with it she knows something." His gut was telling him that. She'd apparently squirmed when Carisi decided to look in the back yard, among other things. She obviously had been concerned they'd find something.

"Oh, I agree."

His phone went off. "And that would be the jury. They've reached a decision." He took another sip of coffee. "Let's go."

It hadn't taken them long to be back at the courthouse and Rafael was feeling slightly nervous. He had made his case and done it well. He thought the jury was on his side, but then a jury reaching a decision so quickly could be a bad thing.

Still, he wasn't too concerned. He got slightly nervous before verdicts way more often than he'd like to admit.

Judge Seligman looked over to the jury. "Has the jury reached a verdict?"

"We have, Your Honour!" the jury's spokeswoman said.

"What say you?" the Judge asked,

Rafael took a deep breath.

"On the charge of reckless endangerment, we find the defendant guilty."

A wave of relief washed over him.

"Tania Sladen, you are remanded to Rikers pending sentencing," the judge said. "Members of the jury, we thank you for your service."

With a smirk firmly planted on his face, he gathered up his files once more and headed over to where Liv was standing, a few rows back.

"Good job, Counsellor!" Liv said.

"Thank you, Lieutenant."

They hadn't been alone for long at all when Rafael quickly realized Rita had followed him over. "You win some, lose some, Counsellor."

He did his best imitation of the defence attorney. "I rarely think this, but I actually feel sorry for the D.A's office. The incredible pressure they're under to show they're proactive, to show they're politically correct. And while domestic violence is a scourge that should not be tolerated, this case is not that."

"Okay, I might have deserved that," she said wryly.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Why you left prosecuting, I'll never understand."

Rita waved his comment off. "Ancient history."

"How are you, Rita?" Olivia asked.

"Busy," Rita said, "but from the stack of paper I saw in both your offices, you can say the same."

"Don't start a paper war you can't win," he deadpanned.

"Shaking with fear," Rita quipped.

He bantered back and forth with Rita a bit more before Liv pulled him away, and they walked out to her car. She then dropped him back off at his office, telling him she was going to speak with Diane.

That was going to be a depressing conversation.

He poured himself another coffee and then got to work on prepping for his next trial date.

Around four-thirty in the afternoon, Rafael was back at SVU.

The lieutenant began explaining the current situation. "So, Kevin and Diane Brown," she said, gesturing to two photos. "This was taken two days before Kevin went missing. Probably the last time either of them smiled.

"You were able to speak to Diane?" he asked.

"Yeah, she gave up hope of finding her brother a long time ago," the lieutenant said.

Carisi was glancing at the board and gestured towards it with his thumb. "Maybe that's a good thing."

"We don't know those bones belong to Kevin," Rollins said.

Carisi gestured to the board again with an open palm. He then spoke very incredulously. "Oh, come on. We found the kid's t-shirt in the Mauer house."

Olivia stopped an argument in its tracks. "The lab is running DNA tests on the skeleton right now."

"I mean, what the hell, I hope it is Kevin," Rollins said. "At least then we have a shot of convicting Rowan Mauer with something."

"With what, a public health violation? She's gonna pay a fine and walk," the lieutenant said. "This family is.. is Teflon."

"Bailey still won't testify?" he inquired, not optimistically.

Olivia looked right at him. "The dads are dead-set against it."

He sighed. "Unfortunately, then all this means nothing. I have no case."

Olivia looked at him both angrily and pleadingly. A look he'd seen on her a few times in the past. Great, he was going to be talked into doing something stupid. "So, I have to tell Diane Brown that we found her brother, we know who killed him, and there's nothing that we can do about it?"

Rollins spoke before he could. "We don't know that skeleton's Kevin's."

"Rollins is right, Liv!" Rafael said. "Right now it's all speculation. Theory."

"For now," came Olivia's reply. She looked right at Rafael. "What about a grand jury?"

"Lieu, an indictment without a conviction?" Carisi said. "That's just gonna cause Diane more pain."

"It pains me to say this, but Carisi's right," he said. "I can get an indictment but I'll never get the conviction."

She already knew this, just didn't like it.

"Okay," Olivia said, "so two kids were kidnapped. One of them is dead. And, we have a legal system where we can't do anything about it? What... what the hell are we doing?" The lieutenant started walking away.

"Liv," he said, following her, "maybe a grand jury isn't such a bad idea."

"A grand jury investigating who?" she shot back. "Bailey won't testify against Emerson."

"But what if Emerson's mother gets up on that stand?"

Liv looked at him. "She's just gonna plead the fifth."

"Not if I give her immunity against being charged as an accomplice in Bailey's kidnapping," he offered. "If she happens to implicate herself in Kevin Brown's kidnapping and murder, then that's her own fault. And believe me, I can probably make that happen."

"Oh, I don't doubt your ability to weave a web, Rafa," she said. "But, do you really think that a mother is gonna testify against her son?"

"She already threw her son under the bus once," he said. "Let's see if we can't make it happen again."


	45. Chapter 45

By Friday afternoon, good as his word, Rafael had managed to get Rowan Mauer to agree to testify against her son. It really hadn't required a whole lot of work. She really was a piece of work, although, it certainly made his job a lot easier. He'd managed to get a day in front of a Grand Jury for three days later. They would decide if he'd be permitted to file charges or not.

He felt confident he could get the indictment, though, and he'd just work harder to build his case. He had someone testifying for his side, finally, at least.

He'd then gone to catch up on some of his reports and to update EADA Lee who he'd neglected to keep in the loop somewhat lately. Not that Lee seemed to care. He knew Rafael was more than reasonably competent and would come to him with anything major. He'd then organized his office some before finally going home. Both Liv and himself had informed Lucy they'd be home a bit later, and she'd agreed to pick Noah up from a playdate he had after Kids Club and then to stay until one of them got home.

He'd gotten home before Liv, so had Noah take a shower and prepared dinner. While it was in the oven he played legos with Noah who told him all about his day.

Apparently, they'd done story time at Kids Club and he'd really liked the story. He'd also got a new classmate at school who he'd played with at lunch and recess who seemed quite nice.

The kid had apparently moved to Manhattan from Miami with his parents due to job prospects.

Rafael was happy that Noah was doing everything he could to make the kid feel welcome. Noah really was a fantastic kid.

Noah recounted all the games he'd played when he was at his friend Sam's house. He'd then enthusiastically asked Rafael if he could have a new action figure and Rafael responded by saying he could maybe have it for his birthday come July. They'd then played a small game of robots before Liv made it home and they finally sat down for dinner.

Over dinner, they all chatted amicably, and while Liv did the dishes he wiped the table down and put some popcorn on and let Noah pick a movie for them to watch together.

Both Noah and Liv passed out on the couch about halfway through the movie. Grinning, he took a picture. He then carried Noah to bed, and gently woke Liv up, getting her to go to sleep in an actual bed.

He'd stayed up a bit later, tidying up the house some. He'd just been about to call it a night when the news channel he had playing in the background caught his attention. He felt the colour drain from his face.

A reporter was talking frantically and all Rafael could hear was the headline at the bottom of the screen screaming in his ears. _Attack at Townhouse of New York: 10 people dead._

Shit. The Townhouse was an upscale gay bar. Rafael himself had frequented it several times over the years.

He really felt bad for the DA and Homicide right now. This was going to be a mess and a half.

Saturday morning they'd all slept in and tried to relax, letting Noah watch a couple of morning cartoons.

Carisi, Rollins, and her little family had then joined them at the Natural History Museum which had pleasantly fascinated the kids.

Both Carisi and himself had had to field several of the more interesting questions from the children that the women were artfully avoiding.

They'd all then gone out for lunch at the Shake Shack, which the kids had been looking forward to since they'd made the plans a few days previously.

The weather was relatively nice, so they'd all gone back to the Barba-Benson household and let the kids run around in the backyard and he texted Rita, who wasted no time in dropping by for a coffee. While the children were playing the adults all sat around chatting with Carisi recounting whatever elaborate story came to mind.

Eventually, everyone headed home and the three of them got ready to go to the Bronx for dinner with his mother.

It was a really nice reprieve.

Sunday came at them full force. Thankfully, his mother has agreed to take Noah for the day, so they dropped the boy off at mass with his mother and then made their way to the summit.

Unfortunately, the summit started while mass was still going on, so he wouldn't be attending today. He apologized on the way out, to Father Mike, who assured him that he understood given the nature of the summit's topic.

The summit ended up being rather dry, but neither of them expected otherwise.

Finally, on the fourth, he was putting his case in front of the Grand Jury.

"Mrs. Mauer, please tell the jury what happened the day of the 25th."

"I came home early," she explained to the jury. "There was a problem with the internet."

"So, your son didn't know you'd be home?" he asked.

"No," Mrs. Mauer said. "Usually I work late."

"And it was his day off?"

Rowan Mauer sighed. "Yeah."

"What happened once you got home, Mrs. Mauer?"

"It was quiet," she said. "I thought Em was out. I went upstairs to change. I saw the light in his room was on." She made a gesture with her hands. "I don't how many times I told him electricity doesn't grow on trees."

"So, you went to the room to turn off the light?" he asked.

"That's right."

"And what did you see?" he asked. "What did you see in your son's room, Mrs. Mauer?"

He took a couple of steps toward her. "I would like to remind the witness that it is in her best interest to answer the question truthfully in adherence to our deal."

He wanted it perfectly clear that if she backed out now any arrangement for immunity that she made with his office would be null and void.

She sighed. "I saw my son in bed."

"And was he alone when you saw him?"

"No, she said. "He was with a little girl."

"What did you do when you realized this?"

"I told him to take her back where he found her," Mrs. Mauer explained. "He carried her down the stairs. She was still sleeping. I... I told him to put her in the trunk so she wouldn't know where she was if she woke up."

"That was your suggestion? Not his?"

"Yes."

"Alright," he said. "Then what happened?"

"He took off," Mauer stated simply. "And about forty minutes later, he came back without the car. He said -" She sighed. "When he stopped to get the girl candy, somebody stole his car."

"When the car was stolen was Bailey Shaw still in the trunk?"

"That's what he said, yes."

"Thank you for your time, Mrs. Mauer," he said, taking a seat. "Nothing else from the people, Your Honour."

He wasn't overly surprised when an hour later and indictment came down.

Perfect. Now, he just needed that conviction.

After court, he went back to his office and had a meeting with Buchanan regarding a frankly horrid deal on behalf of his client. Rafael told the man in no certain terms to not offend him and get out of his office. He'd take his chances in court, even if it was Judge Briggs who would be overseeing the trial.

He'd then got a coffee and cracked open the new law book he'd bought little over a week and a half ago. He wanted to go over the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act again to see if he could spot a loophole in the wording that would help him in court given the motion Buchanan was no doubt now going to file.

He'd then received a call from Carisi, telling him to come down to the precinct as something had come up with their DNA results.

He'd then been giving a quick rundown of what had transpired and their working theory. A theory that would hopefully be confirmed or denied by a new DNA test sooner rather than later.

"Uh, excuse me, we had a deal!" Defence Attorney Erica Gardner said. "She testifies against Emerson, she gets immunity."

"The deal was conditioned upon your client telling the truth," he replied simply.

"I did," Rowan Mauer said.

"Here's the thing, Mrs. Mauer," he said. "I hate being lied to, but I hate having my time wasted even more. You held information back and lied."

"I told you everything I know," Mrs. Mauer assured him.

"So, you didn't know your son's real name is Kevin?" he said with a smirk.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Mrs. Mauer said.

"Your son died 17 years ago," he said, "and I bet you had something to do with it."

Mrs. Mauer looked him right in the eyes. "Too bad you can't prove it."

"Well, the lab is testing the DNA of the man pretending to be your son as we speak," he said. "They're gonna call me with the results." He stepped closer to her. "You've got until then to make a deal, Mrs. Mauer."

"For what?" Councillor Gardner asked.

"Thanks to your testimony when the DNA results come back, showing that Emerson's a match to Kevin Brown, there's gonna be another kidnapping charge," he said, "and I am also feeling good about felony murder." Well, it might have to be Negligent Homicide, but that was beside the point. A good lawyer always aimed high and left room for a plea deal. Plus, he didn't know the circumstances of the Mauer child's death.

Councillor Gardner looked frustrated. "Who did she kill?"

"Her own son. The real Emerson," the lieutenant said. "Seventeen years ago."

He tapped his watch, looking directly at the pair. "Tick, tock."

Gardner sighed. "What's in it for her?"

He smirked. "I'm thinking about twenty years."

He gave Mrs. Mauer a moment to make her decision.

After a moment, she finally spoke. "Of course that's not my son. My son wouldn't be stupid enough to grab a little girl."

This time, Olivia spoke. "Then what happened to the real Emerson?"

Mrs. Mauer sighed. "Zach and I had a disagreement."

"A fight," he said, knowing where this was going.

Gardner tried to regain control of the situation. "Stop, Rowan."

"No," Mrs. Mauer said. "What choice do I have?" She steadied herself. "We were at the top of the stairs. We didn't know Emerson was behind us. Zach pushed me. I bumped into my son, and he fell down the stairs." Olivia's hand flew to her mouth, obviously horrified. "He broke his neck. There was blood coming out of his ears." Mauer whimpered. "It was an accident."

"And you never called the police?"

Rowan Mauer looked at him. "We were drinking. Zach was a rager. He had assault charges. They would have thought we killed him," she said. Well, she definitely wasn't wrong there. "We had no other choice." _I did what I thought was right! _He took a deep breath, shaking that thought away. "I buried my sweet baby in the backyard."

"And Kevin Brown was the perfect replacement," he said, surprised at how steady his voice was. "Same age, same height and weight."

"And Zach left a week later," Mrs. Mauer said, sniffling.

Olivia nodded. "So you raised Kevin as your own."

The lieutenant got up, opening the door to let Diane Brown in. Mrs. Mauer stood up, asking what she was doing here. After a very quick explanation, Mrs. Mauer proceeded to claim that she had done Diane and her family a favour. She claimed Diane's parents didn't care about either of them. Diane asked what she was talking about, and Mrs. Mauer replied that they let the kids run all over the city like ragamuffins and when they came into the store to get ice cream they were all alone. Diane was 10 and Kevin was 6. She then asked what kind of mother does that. Diane cried and explained it was one who was dying. Her mother had had Hodgkin's, so she helped her mother with Kevin when their father was at work as her mother was so unwell.

Mrs. Mauer shook her head and then had the audacity to say that it was even better than, stating that Kevin had a good life with her and she fed, clothed, and loved him. He had a mom. Diane angrily pointed out that she stole him. Mrs. Mauer then countered that by saying her baby was dead; she deserved it.

That comment had disgusted everyone in the room and Olivia had wasted no time in turning to the woman and saying, very clearly, that no one deserves somebody else's child. From the look on her face, he could tell Olivia was thinking about everything that had transpired with Sheila Porter.

Not long after that conversation, Rafael got the call confirming the DNA match. Rollins's hunch had been accurate, although given the earlier admission that hadn't surprised them in the slightest.

He stayed at the precinct when the lieutenant went to break the news of his real identity to Kevin/Emerson. Diane had asked to watch from outside. He had a feeling that conversation wasn't going to go well, and even if it did, he wanted to speak with the sister after to see how Diane felt. His intention was to cut her brother a deal if that was her wish. The family really had been through enough. However, his preference would be to get the Mauer clan off the streets. Kevin included. Although, as long as Kevin was in treatment, and had a sharp eye kept on him, he'd be willing to bend a little.

He'd been pouring himself a coffee when he heard the doors to the interrogation room open. Then, moments later, there were definitely raised voices. Olivia was clearly trying to calm Diane down, and Diane was clearly upset.

He went to see what was going on.

"Diane, it's gonna come back to him," Olivia said. "I promise you, with counselling -"

"What's the point?" Diane cried.

"The point is that the DA is gonna cut him a deal."

Diane just looked at Olivia. "He's not my brother anymore." Her voice caught. "He stopped being my brother 17 years ago."

"This is just gonna take time," Olivia tried to reassure her.

"We're people," she said. "We're not a broken vase you can put together with a little Krazy Glue."

Olivia looked lost for words. "Diane -"

"Look, I know you think you're doing the right thing, Lieutenant, and maybe for someone else, it would be," Diane said," But I'm just not that strong." She let out a sob and then opened the door, leaving.

He grabbed Liv's arm. "Let her go."

"Rafa -"

"Let her go."

Olivia looked taken aback. "That's her brother."

"He's not the same boy," he said. "He never will be." His right hand was now caressing her temple. "I'm taking this to trial."

"Won't that do more harm than good for Diane?" she asked. "That's what you and Carisi said."

He snorted. "She's made her feelings about Mauer very clear."

"You mean Brown."

"No," he said, "I meant Mauer." He squeezed Olivia's hand. "He's as much Mauer's son now as Noah is yours. Kevin Brown, in all the ways that matter, died a long time ago." He kissed her forehead. "You can't save everyone, Cariño."

"You can't blame a girl for trying," Liv said, relaxing into his touch. "How do you feel about May long weekend?"

He quirked an eyebrow. "Sorry?"

"You said we should set a date," she said softly.

"If you're sure," he said, "May long weekend sounds perfect."


	46. Chapter 46

Another set of cases closed, including the Mauer indictments. He'd gotten a conviction on all but one, which had fallen apart due to the main witness's actions. He also had several new, garden variety, cases that he'd gotten indictments for. Now, he was just preparing for trials and meeting with several defence attorneys who wanted to talk deal. Although, he had yet to hear a remotely satisfactory deal.

Thankfully, they'd been able to apprehend the man behind the Townhouse shooting.

There'd been another incident in Miami and another with a group of cops in Brooklyn, however, which had escalated the situation.

Then there were the lovely articles that they'd all woken up to in the news.

**Manhattan Narcotics Cop Indicted for Perjury and Making False Arrests**

_An NYPD narcotics detective has been arrested over accusations he lied in court testimony and on official documents, leading to false arrests._

_**NYPD Cop's Lies Sent Two People to Prison, DA Says**_

_A Manhattan narcotics detective's false claims got three people wrongly arrested, two of whom went behind bars, prosecutors say._

You could hear people walking down the street talking about it all, and he'd very clearly heard a group of men, while he was buying some snacks from a bodega, say that the shooting victims had deserved it.

The entire thing was putting him more on edge than he'd realized.

He'd been eleven years old the first time he'd been called queer.

He'd said something in class, complementing a classmate, and ended up getting the crap beaten out of him for it by some other boys in his year. They kept calling him queer and a maricón, whatever those were. Of course, now, he knew what they were pejoratives for. He hadn't fully understood at the time.

Eddie had, unfortunately, been in a different class that year - and Alex had been home sick with the flu. His friend had tried to help when he saw what was going on, and managed to keep the fight from getting worse, but he'd already been beaten up pretty good, and Eddie had earned himself a black eye for his efforts. When a teacher later asked about what happened, Rafael had lied, not wanting to make matters worse.

Eddie had walked him home after school trying to encourage him to tell his parents about what happened or, at least, Abuelita.

When he'd gotten home he hadn't been feeling very talkative and got straight to studying at the kitchen table. He'd always been rather academic and he needed anything, anything else, to concentrate on.

His mother had been watching the news that evening while he'd been studying at the kitchen table. The newscaster was reporting on a large outbreak of some disease that was apparently killing homosexual men.

His parents both scoffed and he heard his mother mumble, "Disgusting."

"How could you want to be a maricón?" his father spat in reply. "Serves them right."

He'd gathered his things and went to his room. He'd then threw the covers over him and cried himself to sleep.

He'd hated himself when he, at fourteen, developed feelings for a classmate, Santiago Velasco. He'd felt both elated and extremely disgusted with himself when Santiago had initiated a kiss and he found he liked it.

He'd told Santiago they couldn't be friends. Rafael couldn't be friends with someone like that. He, Rafael, wasn't like him... Santiago had looked so hurt, but Rafael hadn't known what to do.

Unfortunately, two upper classmates had seen them and both younger boys had gotten beaten up that day after school.

He'd cried himself to sleep again that night.

After that, he'd pushed those feelings aside, refusing to be some queer or fag. He'd even had a small fling with Yelina Muñoz at that time as she'd just moved next door after moving down from Miami. She'd never quite held his attention the way Santiago had, though, which had made it easy for him and Yelina to stay good friends for a long time afterwards. And he'd also struggled to bury his feelings for a new classmate, Antonio Rodríguez, who had just transferred in from Miami. He'd been one of the hottest guys at school.

He'd been positively relieved when he'd had a crush on Lauren Sullivan, a neighbour, in the eleventh grade.

It had just been a phase. A bad phase.

Until Freshmen year of college, when those feelings resurfaced again, to his dismay. That had been a hard pill to swallow.

He knew then that it wasn't just a phase; admitted who he was to himself.

He'd ended up in a tentative relationship with another student named Mark which had ended in disaster after Rafael broke it off, because, in hindsight, he was still very much struggling with accepting who he was.

When he finally came out to his family in his mid-twenties, it hadn't been pretty. His mother had even yelled at him and ordered him to go see a therapist. His father, well... it went about as well as he had expected.

He'd tried to hide the tears as he grabbed his things and left, deciding to go stay at his grandparents' for the rest of break.

Things had been strained between them for a long time after that evening. Eventually, his father passed away when Rafael was twenty-nine. It had taken a few more years, but his mother eventually came around to quietly accepting it. She still didn't agree or understand completely, she never would. She still thought he was sick somewhere deep down, he was sure.

They'd had more than one fight about it over the years, although they both generally tried to just never discuss it.

Yes, over the years, he'd heard the sentiment and worse a hundred times over, but it never seemed to get easier to hear you were basically worthless because of who you loved. It still stung as much as the first time. You just got better at hiding it from others.

On a happier note, he and Olivia were trying to get more wedding planning done and had finally settled on a venue; _the New York Botanical Gardens_.

The ceremony would be outside and the reception, indoors, with the meal being potluck style. They'd also started working on their guest lists as well.

The squad was invited, obviously, and then they wanted to invite Lucy, Amaro, Munch, Cragen, Melinda, Casey Novak, and George Huang. His mother was attending, of course, and then he was also inviting his Tía Claudia, Tío Mauricio, Carmen, Rita and the Garcias. He'd also be inviting a couple long-time family friends. That meant that there would be at least three kids running around and a baby. Billie would likely sleep through the entire thing, to be honest. Then Nick Amaro would probably bring Zara, although they doubted Gilberto would come down. More than a few kids. They saw no reason, however, for anyone to have to worry about childcare. As it was, Olivia had already asked Jesse to be their flower girl and he'd asked Noah to be the ring bearer.

Olivia had also struggled with the actual walking down aspect of the ordeal, and after them sitting down and talking, she'd approached Donald Cragen, who had been there for her so much over the years. The older man had enthusiastically agreed.

As always, the job never ended, and Rafael had spent all morning in an arraignment hearing for a case that was very much a_ 'he said, she said.' _Still, the case could have been going worse. He'd managed to get most of the Defence's motions declined, thankfully.

"The defendant has means and reason to flee, Your Honour," Rafael said. "He's facing twenty-five years on Rape One."

"My client is eager to go to trial and clear his name."

"This is ridiculous," Mr. Ramirez said. "It was consensual. She never said, 'no.'"

"The victim's blood alcohol was 0.23," Rafael countered smoothly. "Legally unable to consent."

The man looked irritated. "We were both drunk."

"That's it, Mr. Ramirez," the judge said. "Mr. Barba, I'm granting your request for a remand."

"But -" the defendant stammered.

"The decisions final," the judge said. She then brought the gavel down. Music to Rafael's ears.

With a pleased smirk, he gathered up his files. Once he had them all, he caught up with Carisi and headed outside with Ana Rivera close behind. Before getting into her car, she stopped them. "Mr. Barba?" He turned to face her. "You believe me? I never wanted that. Not like that."

He looked at her. "I do believe you, Miss Rivera."

"We'll be in touch about your testimony, okay?" Carisi said, opening the car door for her.

Once she was gone, they started walking and talking. "Well done."

"She was afraid he was gonna get out on bail," Carisi said. "Amazing, get a remand on the_ 'he said, she said.'"_

"I guess there's a first for everything," he quipped. He then smirked slightly. Moral, don't piss off the judge during your own hearings."

"No truer words," Carisi said with a chuckle. "Hey, you want to grab lunch? I can download you on where we are on the investigation."

"Sure," he said. "But I get to pick the joint."

"By all means, Counsellor," Carisi said. "My truck's this way."

He followed Carisi to his parking spot, maybe a five-minute walk away, while quickly sending a text message to Liv to let her know what was going on and who he was with. He didn't want her to worry about him.

They got in the car and Carisi put some hip hop on, the one style of music they could both agree on.

Once at the restaurant, food ordered, they started talking shop for a bit. Then the conversation switched completely and they went on a history tangent, before delving into some lighter topics.

Much to his horror, Carisi had apparently gone through a Jersey Shore phase. And just when he thought things couldn't get worse after that disgrace of a moustache that the blond had started at SVU with.

He grimaced. "I want to borrow that shirt."

"Why?" Carisi inquired.

"So, I can burn it," he deadpanned.

Carisi looked at him, amused. "It's really not that bad."

"Please, tell me you don't actually go out in public in that monstrosity."

Carisi laughed even harder. "Not all of us men are as worried about fashion as you, Mr. Designer Suits."

He quirked an eyebrow. "I know, and, believe me, it shows. Seriously, I'm not saying everyone has to wear Gucci, but there are just some things that should be illegal. Is a little fashion sense too much to ask for?"

Carisi shook his head, stifling a laugh. Rafael cringed slightly. "Ok, that might have come out a little -" _more flamboyant than I would have liked._

He said things like that and then was still surprised when people suspected he might not be straight. Ah well. He'd blame the un-consumed alcohol.

"Don't even try and save yourself," Carisi said, voice filled with mirth. "Anyways, I might have inquired. Rollins might have blabbed."

He furrowed his brow. "And does it bother your Catholic sensibilities?"

"You should know me better than that by now, Rafael," the blond replied. "I'm a good Catholic boy, but -"

"I get it," he said, raising a hand. "You're a good Catholic, but, you're also a _good_ Catholic."

"Glad we're on the same page," Carisi said with a grin. "No bingo cards for me. So, what is the story with you and Calhoun? You two squabble like no other. I swear at times it's like you hate each other."

"Professional and personal," he said. "We've gotten pretty good at separating the two over the years."

"I can see that."

"Yeah, well, it hasn't always been easy," he said. "Little over three years ago, during the Rudnick case..."

Carisi nodded. "Calhoun was defending him, right?"

"Precisely," he confirmed. "She said something that grated on my nerves about Rudnick and money. I turned to her and said that I hoped there was enough money in the world."

_Calhoun had just stormed into his office several minutes ago and a rather heated discussion had immediately ensued. She was making excuse after excuse, explaining away any and all evidence; paper-cuts and cross-contamination._

_"So, why are you here, Rita?"_

_"You have an M.E. accused of being a serial killer. The last thing your bosses want is a long, drawn-out trial. And these headlines... " She glanced at the bottle of medication on his desks. "How are your migraines?"_

_He sighed. "Your solution is?"_

_"Dr. Rudnick pleads to one count of tampering with evidence and one count of unlawful disposal of a body," she said, "This goes away as quietly as possible."_

_He looked at her, all his sensibilities offended. "Misdemeanours? He killed three women. I can offer manslaughter, served concurrently."_

_"A public defender can get as much. He is paying for more than that."_

_"I hope there's enough money in the world, Rita. I really do."_

_"You better hope you don't get a conviction," she said, looking at him, "because if you do, every case Dr. Rudnick touched will be subject to an appeal, starting with Greg Yates."_

_He had been pissed with her for weeks after that case. It'd taken them a while to move past that particular bump in the road._

"So, why exactly are you two so close?"

"Well, I guess it started back in Cambridge when -" and he launched into the story.

After lunch, he had a meeting with McCoy and then found himself absorbed in paperwork.

He'd then checked the time, and said screw it, catching an Uber to Noah's school to pick him up.

He'd been quite bad for overtime lately and felt a bit guilty about it. He'd work from home some.

When he mentioned it, Jack McCoy basically chased him out, which was more amusing than anything.

When he walked into the school, his stress melted away. Noah, ecstatic, saw him, and ran up, giving him a big hug. His backpack was clearly bothering him, however.

He kneeled down, ruffling the boy's hair. "Cómo estuvo la escuela, Mijo?" (How was school, Son?)

"Bien, gracias," came Noah's reply. "Puedes llevar mi cartera, por favor?" (Fine, thanks. Can you take my schoolbag, please?)

Immediately, some heads turned when Noah switched to Spanish. Rafael noticed one parent giving him, Rafael, a disapproving look. Too bad for them; Rafael didn't care. If they proceeded to make a scene, however, Rafael would make them regret it.

"Claro," he said, smiling, and taking the boy's too heavy bag. "Bueno, te fue bien en la prueba de ortografía?" (Of course. So, did you do well on the spelling test?)

"Sí," Noah said proudly, "solo un error. Oh, y también comenzamos una nueva historia." (Yes, only one mistake. Oh, and we also started a new story.)

"De verdad, Mijo?" he said. "Buen trabajo! Y te gustó la nueva historia?" (Really, Son? Good job! And do you like the new story?)

"Sí," Noah said with a grin. "It's funny."

"Me alegro," he said. "I'm glad, but let's head home now, shall we?"

"De acuerdo," Noah said with a grin, running towards the door.

"Ve más despacio!" he called out with a laugh. "Slow down, Mijo!"

Yes, leaving work early was definitely going to be worth it.

The next morning, Olivia woke him up with a kiss on the cheek. "Morning, Love."

"Good morning," he said, rolling onto his side and giving her a soft smile. "You're beautiful, you know that?"

She smiled, amused. "I didn't know you liked the bedhead look."

"Hmm," he said, kissing her. "Only on you."

She chuckled. "You're such a sap sometimes."

He kissed her again. "Let's just keep that between us, hmm?"

"Don't worry," she said with a chuckle. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Good," he said, grinning. "How about I go make us some breakfast before someone comes barging in here."

"I knew there was a reason I keep you around," she said, trailing her fingers down his chest, causing him to shiver slightly.

He rolled his eyes, amused. "And here I thought it was my charisma."

"That helps too," she said with a grin.

Giving her a quick peck on the cheek, he got up and threw some clothes on, before making his way out to the kitchen.

Once breakfast was ready, Liv went to make sure Noah was awake. Noah then got dressed and made sure his schoolbag was ready.

Rafael then tidied up from breakfast and then took Noah to school before heading to his office.

After a meeting with EADA Lee, he went to the courthouse for another motion hearing. It went reasonably well, all things considered.

"Good job up there, Alicia," he said. "Your statement was more than a little advantageous."

Alicia looked at him. "I still can't remember much about that night. I mean, I've tried, but -"

"Sometimes our memory comes back in bits and pieces," Rollins said. "Sometimes not at all."

"But this still goes to trial?" she asked.

"Yes," Rollins assured her. "Mr. Barba got the indictment. We also know from your blood alcohol content that you were clearly incapable of consent. So if anything comes back to you, anything at all, you give us a call, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks."

"Anytime," he said. He turned to Rollins. "Walk her out, please."

"Of course, Counsellor."

He swung by his office, signed off on a few new documents he received, and called Liv to see if she had anything new for him. She didn't.

"So, have TARU go over the security footage from her apartment building. Anything that shows that she was incapacitated."

"I already have Fin on it, Rafa," she said. "Still on for lunch today?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Liv."

"Talk to you soon. Love you."

"Love you too."

Checking the time, he got ready to go to the meeting he had shortly. Thankfully, it wasn't exceptionally long and he was back in his office before long.

He had just cracked open another police report when he received a text from Carisi asking him to come down to the station.

"Great," he said, closing the file, and not really paying attention. He called an Uber, threw on his jacket and heading downstairs.

It hadn't taken very long before he was standing in the Squad room, the team all looking weary.

"Where's the fire?"

"In Interrogation One and Two," Olivia said. "Their names are Michael Jones and Cody Baker. The alleged victim is Sarah Bryant."

"The anti-gay pundit?"

Great, well, his day just got a hell of a lot worse.

"That's the one," Carisi confirmed. "She alleges that they attacked her after one of her speeches and Jones attempted to rape her while Baker held her down."

"Do we have anything? DNA? Defence marks? Anything?"

"We have multiple witnesses, ideological allies, placing him at the scene," the lieutenant said. "She has defence marks, and Baker has a bite mark on his hand which fits with her story."

"Do we know why they were there? How they fit into this mess?"

It was Carisi who jumped into an explanation. "Jones is Bisexual and Baker is gay."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Just what he needed. A political hate crime. _Queer Vigilantes Assault Right-wing Pundit._ He could see the plethora of colourful headlines already.

"Damn," he said. "Ok, get me everything you can on all three of them and any and all witness reports."

"On it, Counsellor," Rollins said.

Fin looked at him. "Anything I can do?"

"Revet absolutely everything with a fine-tooth comb," he said. "This case is a dog with fleas." He sighed. "I'm going to go talk to the D.A. That conversation should be short but not sweet."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Liv said.

He waved the comment off and gave a quick reply before heading outside to phone D.A McCoy to give him a heads up about this mess.


	47. Chapter 47

As expected, the conversation with the D.A hadn't been a happy one. The higher-ups hated anything political and this one stunk, bad. He was essentially told to make sure he had a very very strong case and to keep it quiet if he insisted on pursuing an indictment.

"Yes, sir…I do know what a long hot summer is."

"Good to hear," McCoy said. "Then I don't need to tell you to act accordingly?"

"No, sir."

"Glad to hear it."

He'd then gone to do more prep for today's trial and waited for more information from Liv on the new case. She'd since gotten more information but nothing substantial enough to make the case stronger. All in all not much had changed, case wise, there.

He'd then gone home, he'd played some lego with Noah, and then after dinner all three of them had played a round of cards and let Noah pick a board game to play. They'd all needed it, even Noah, and they all had a lot of fun.

Today, however, Liv had needed to take Noah to school as Rafael had court first thing. That meant he still had some prep that he'd had to do to make sure he had everything in order. Olivia met him at the courthouse, not long after his arrival.

"We have a bit of time before the trial," he said, "and I'll begin with an opening statement."

"When do I testify?" Miss Rivera asked.

"Soon," he replied. "You know, we have a room that you can wait in if you'd prefer."

She nodded.

"All right, come with me, Ana," Carmen said.

"Okay," she said.

He yelled after his assistant. "Thank you, Carmen."

"I'm like your second mother," she quipped. "It's what I'm here for."

He snorted. "I have a reputation to keep, you know."

Carmen just laughed, leading Miss Rivera to a quiet room down the hall.

Olivia then turned to him. "You think she'll do all right on the stand?"

"She should," he said. "I've gone over her testimony with her backwards and forwards. But it won't be easy. There's a lot she doesn't remember. Frankly, the defence is going to go after her hard."

"Okay, well, what about a plea?"

"They already tried to get the case dismissed alleging that the defendant was too drunk to consent."

"And she raped him? So what, she's making this all up? Because what woman wouldn't want to go through the trauma of a rape investigation, a trial, just for kicks? He's guilty, Rafael."

"Olivia, you don't think I know that?" he scoffed. "I wasn't the person who filed the motion. Don't blame me. I was the one who convinced the judge NOT to do it."

"I know," she said. "This case is just a mess."

He nodded. "You'll get no disagreement from me.

Court started before long, and the lieutenant headed back to the precinct to oversee the Sarah Bryant case. The first half of the court proceedings went as smoothly as they could have hoped. There were a couple of hiccups, as there always were... it was how these things often went, but his witness had done really well on the stand, and he was quite happy with his opening statement.

The defence had done well too, but he really couldn't see how they thought they stood a chance.

Daniel Ramirez was guilty. Plain and simple.

"Miss Rivera, can you please explain what happened on the night in question?"

"I got to the bar around 11:30 and then the last thing I remember, Daniel Ramirez walked me home," the plaintiff explained. "He said he wanted to help. I told him I didn't need help, but he didn't listen to me."

"And after that, Ms. Rivera?" he asked.

"I woke up the next morning," she said. "My clothes were torn off."

"And then?"

"I went to the hospital for a rape kit. The nurse called SVU," she said. The detective said I'd been assaulted."

"But you never completely remembered the assault itself?" he said, trying to get ahead of the argument to control some of the damage. If the defence introduced the fact first, well, it would be a nightmare.

"No," she said, "but I do remember telling him earlier that evening that I didn't want to go home with him. And I remember pushing him off earlier when he got too rough trying to kiss me. I wasn't comfortable."

"Were you at all interesting in going home with the accused?"

"No."

"Thank you, Ms. Rivera," he said. "Nothing else from the people at this time."

He took a seat and let the defence, Jed Karey, start their cross-examination.

"Earlier that evening, did you consent to have a drink with my client? Councillor Karey asked.

"Yes.

"Did you consent to have several drinks with my client while flirting with him for, according to the bartender, over an hour?"

"Yes, but I didn't -"

"Yes, but what, you remember consenting to have drinks with my client but you don't remember consenting to the sex?

"Objection. Badgering the witness, Your Honour."

"Overruled."

"I'm not making this up," Miss Rivera said. "I wouldn't be sitting here if I wasn't raped."

"We just heard you testify that you don't remember what happened between walking home and waking up," the defence said. "You could have consented and not remember that you consented."

"You think I want to be here?"

"You tell me."

"Daniel Ramirez raped me," she said calmly. "I'm only here because I believe if I can face the man who raped me, if I can get justice, I'll somehow get my life back. I don't know about you, Mr. Karey, but going through this isn't something I enjoy."

Rafael smirked. She might have been victimized but she wasn't a victim. She was a survivor and one that happened to have quite a bit of fight in her.

Not much later and the judge called a recess for lunch.

Once lunch was over he cross-examined the defendant and managed to actually cause an outburst. The judged threatened Mr. Ramirez with being held in contempt if there was another outburst.

He'd then pointed out that the defendant's BAC levels were substantially lower than the plaintiff's and so, Ramirez carried responsibility for the victim's well being when he decided to walk her home and should have used his clearer judgement.

Oh, the joys the weaving little webs.

By the time the judge called for the jury to go deliberate, he was feeling very confident in his case.

"Gloating already, Barba?" Karey inquired.

"Guilty," he said, oozing mirth

"Pride comes before the fall," Karey quipped.

"Really original," he said with a snort. "I'm not overly concerned given the, frankly, weak case you have. Honestly, how do you think you stand a chance? On that note, I'm going to grab a cup of coffee."

"Mind if I join you?"

"By all means," he said with a shrug.

"Good," Karey said. "I just happen to know a good café not too far from here."

"I'll be the judge of that," he said with a snort. "Given your taste in alcohol, I doubt your taste in coffee is much better."

"You always did have old taste," Karey said.

He quirked an eyebrow. "I think you mean good taste."

Karey shook his head, smirking, and lead the way of the courthouse and down the main road to this little café that had recently opened up.

The coffee there actually was pretty good, but they'd barely started their coffees when the jury came back. They'd then made their way back to the courthouse in relative silence. Both slightly concerned about how the case was going to go, given the jury's quick decision. Rafael still felt reasonably confident, however.

Judge Bertuccio looked over to the jury. "Has the jury reached a verdict?"

"We have, Your Honour!" the jury foreman said.

"What say you?" the Judge asked.

Rafael crossed his fingers.

"On the charge of sexual misconduct, we find the defendant guilty."

A pleased feeling washed over him as he waited for the last two charges to be read.

"On the charge of Rape in the first degree, we find the defendant guilty."

He smirked.

"Lastly, on the charge of one count of forcible penetration with a foreign object, we find the defendant guilty."

"Daniel Miguel Ramirez, you are remanded to Rikers pending sentencing," the judge said. "Members of the jury, we thank you for your service."

With a smirk firmly planted on his face, he gathered up his files once more and headed over to where Carisi was waiting by the doors for him.

"What've you got for me?"

"I'll drive you down to the station and fill you in there," the blond detective said. "I think we have a strong case, however."

"That's not what I'm concerned about."

"I know," Carisi said, "it's the politics."

He sighed. "Lead the way."

Back at the station, he didn't like what he heard.

"Why doesn't TARU have this already?" he asked with a glare.

They found out that one of the suspects had filmed parts of the attack. With that being said, they weren't willing to open their phones. Neither was the phone company. Carisi had already gone down to talk to them earlier.

"Counsellor, they're not gonna be able to unlock this phone without a passcode," Carisi said. "Unfortunately, only the company can decrypt it. So, take it to court."

"Look, I know you wanted more," the lieutenant said, "but we have a strong case."

He looked at her. "I'm not certain the D.A would support moving forward with this right now, given the political climate."

"Yes, I know that some monster just shot up a gay club in Miami, then there's the Townhouse shooting, and another one killed three police officers in Brooklyn," Olivia said. "It's horrific and elections are coming up. The pressure's on. But I've said it before and I'll say it again, we don't get to pick our victims. I get you hate her ideals, Rafael. I find them reprehensible as well. But she still deserves justice for what happened to her."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Liv, it's not -" Did she really think this was because of him not liking the woman's views? That stung a little.

Olivia took a step closer to him. "I'm talking to the prosecutor who convicted two johns of raping a prostitute, got himself choked in court, and told Abraham where to shove his hatchet and charged those ACS workers. You didn't even back down against Muñoz. Now's not really the time to start backing down, Rafael."

"We've got your back, Counsellor," Fin said. "You just get the job done."

He took a deep breath. "I'll make a call, but no promises."

"You can be really persuasive when you want to be, Rafael," the lieutenant said. "I'm sure you'll get the court order."

Within two hours he found himself in front of Judge Briggs, in the judge's chambers.

"Your Honour, these people represent a threat to public safety," he said. "They're violent. They're accused of aggravated assault and battery. One of them has faced aggravated assault charges in the past. Both men are also under investigation for sexual assault. The motivations behind which are clearly a hate crime. I need a court order to compel the manufacturer of the phones to unlock them immediately."

"That's a highly unusual request, Mr. Barba," the judge said, eyeing him. "First, you need to get an order to gain access to the personal information."

"I don't have the time for that, Your Honour."

"And there are no other means to unlock the phone?"

"No," he said. "The registrants of the phones are in custody and aren't cooperating. Moreover, nothing has been backed up to the cloud."

"And you believe this phone is the only place this evidence exists?"

"At this time, yes. They're a public risk, Your Honour," he said. "As such, pursuant to the All Writs Act, this court should grant an order compelling the manufacturer to unlock both phones."

"Your office has been down this road before, Mr. Barba."

"Yes, I know, Your Honour," he said, deciding to actually take a seat. "I realize this is a huge request."

"There are hundreds of locked phones awaiting decryption," the judge stated. "All cases with court orders. All cases on appeal by the manufacturer."

He nodded. "I understand, but this is different. I believe the company is trying to protect its position on privacy for PR reasons, but given these unique circumstances, if court-ordered, they might cooperate."

"I will grant the order, Mr. Barba."

"Thank you, Your Honour."

The judge looked at him. "Godspeed getting the company to comply."

He couldn't deny that he'd probably need it. An appeal was all too likely.


	48. Chapter 48

Back at SVU, he quietly made his way into Olivia's office with two coffees, and took a seat, waiting, while she finished what she was doing with Rollins.

He didn't have to wait long before the door opened.

"Rafa," she said with a smile, "I didn't see you come in. How'd it go?"

He passed Liv her coffee with a small smile and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. She muttered a thank you, before taking a sip.

"Judge Briggs ruled in our favour," he said. Now came the fun part; getting the company to comply and not file for an appeal.

"See," she said, "I told you that you could be persuasive as hell." She knew he just sometimes needed a reminder of what he was capable of. She was happy to be the one to do it.

He smirked, taking a sip of coffee. "It's a start. This case is still a dog." It really was. Failure was not an option in the slightest and this case would be highly emotionally charged for the public once the names of the perpetrators got out.

"I know." She grabbed her keys. "Let's get Carisi and go deliver that court order to T-Mobile."

"That, Lieutenant, sounds like a very good idea," he said. "And, who knows, maybe I'll get a very early birthday present and get to subpoena somebody."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Your birthday's in October. You'll have issued many by the time it rolls around if I know you even half as well as I think I do."

He smirked. "It's the small joys in life, Liv." He deliberately gave her a wistful look. "When the person's an ass, it makes it all the more enjoyable."

She shook her head, amused. "Oh, I'm sure. Let's go, El Tiburón."

He chuckled, grabbed his suit jacket, and opened the door. "Carisi, get your damn blazer on! We're going on a field trip."

"Coming!" the blond detective yelled back.

Ten minutes later they were walking through the doors of the store. After talking with a decidedly unhelpful staff member, the assistant manager finally arrived. The assistant manager hadn't wanted to cooperate at first either.

"Mr. Matthews," he said, "you can either help me now or I can subpoena what I want and we'll be back in the same situation, only I'll be pissed that you wasted two more hours of my time." He raised an eyebrow. "We've already made two trips down here. Your move."

"I don't see how you think this will help," the assistant manager said. "And our customers do expect privacy."

"Please, Mr. Matthews," the lieutenant said. "Your cooperation would greatly help our investigation and can help get two violent men off the streets."

"I'm sorry," the assistant manager said. "Our customers expect privacy. We'll be appealing this."

"You know," he said. "Instead of subpoenaing you and your boss, I might just file obstruction of justice charges."

"What?!" the assistant manager cried. "I haven't done anything." Both officers were looking surprised by the argument's turn as well.

He took several steps forward, giving the man before him a hard look. "Then stop obfuscating my investigation. Help us." He leaned forward slightly. "The more cooperative you are the more _generous_ I'll be."

"Fine," Matthews said, resigned. "I'll do it." He immediately went to work doing what Rafael wanted. They were out of the store within twenty minutes.

"You're an asshole," Matthews said. "I hope you know that."

Rafael smirked. "I've been called worse things, Matthews, but thanks for playing."

Mr. Matthews looked at the lieutenant and detective. "How the hell do you work with him?"

Carisi just shook his head, not daring to respond. Liv simply said, "He's among the best at his job."

The two police officers fought hard to kept their cool until they were out the door, and then both broke, unable to conceal their laughter.

"I can't believe you just did that," Liv said. She made a gesture. "On second thought, I can. I really can."

"Obfuscate," Carisi said, feigning offence, "you stole my word."

"I'm pretty sure I learned it before you," he said with a grin, "Fordham Law."

"You know, I actually learned lots of things at Fordham," Carisi quipped back, "like the word officious, which is exactly what you are, Rafael."

He looked at the blond detective, oozing mirth. "And damn proud of it."

They all looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Let's go back to the precinct," Olivia said. "Carisi, take the car and go give these to TARU. The counsellor and I will cab back."

Carisi nodded. "Alright, Lieu."

They walked Carisi back to the car, Rafael calling a cab while they walked. They'd had to wait fifteen minutes before a cab finally arrived.

Rafael then got dropped off at the D.A's Office, making sure to pay the total and then giving Liv a couple of bills to make sure she could cover the rest.

"You're in a good mood," Carmen remarked when he walked in.

He put on a serious face. "Did you know I'm apparently officious?"

Carmen had to stifle a laugh. "Oh, sir, that's nothing new."

"That's what I thought," he said with a grin. "I have research to do. If you need me, you know where to find me."

Back in his office, he watched the videos Liv had sent him of the men's interrogations again, and reread Sarah Bryant's written statement as he'd only had time to give it a quick read through before and didn't want to miss anything. It was pretty straight forward and most of it he'd already known, but still.

Once he was satisfied with that, he pulled out his phone, and quietly put on Turn Out the Stars by Bill Evans. He was rather fond of the song, and it was nice to cut out some of the white noise every once in a while. Pleased the volume wouldn't bother him, he dived back into his law books. He immediately turned to and started rereading a section of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

**Title 18, U.S.C., Section 241 - Conspiracy Against Rights**

_If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same;..._

_They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death._

Yes, he could definitely charge this as a hate crime. Perfect. He'd already known that, but he always liked to be sure. Most judges tend to bulk at a prosecutor using the hate crime statute, especially indiscriminately. That caused him some slight issues in the past, namely during People v. Jones.

_He was in chambers with Judge Hawkins and defence counsel The conversation immediately turned into an impromptu motion hearing for the defence._

_"The statute is clear."_

_"But your case isn't," the judge said. "I know that you both agree on how important the hate crime statute is. It would really pain me to see it trivialized by indiscriminate use."_

_He looked at the judge. "All due respect, isn't it up to the jury to decide if it applies?"_

_"Hold on, Dennis," the judge said. "The jury decides the facts - hmm? And the judge can set aside a verdict as a matter of law. And that never looks good for a prosecutor, does it?"_

Needless to say, he'd dropped the hate crime charges to avoid a larger dose of professional humiliation. He'd been even more irritated by the smug look on Defence Attorney Efron's face.

Here, he could use the fact that the victim was attacked due to free speech. The Defence couldn't squirm their way out of that by splitting hairs like last time. His case was stronger. She had exercised that right and been attacked for it. He hated the majority of stuff she said, but free speech _was_ free speech. Not that he was happy about having to defend the vile stuff the woman spewed. She was still a victim, though, so he was going to defend her with everything he had.

He quickly sent Liv a text. '_Set up a meeting for me with Bryant. I want to make sure she doesn't pull a Martha Cobb on me. One manipulative pundit is enough for me.'_


	49. Chapter 49

After going home, he and Olivia spent a little time with Noah before they sent him off to bed. Rafael then let her pick a movie for them to watch on the couch. He'd sort of commandeered the television the night before to watch a Friday Night Lights rerun.

He was hoping a quiet movie night would help ease some of the stress.

"And I got ice cream," he said, pleased. "Morgenstern's."

"Hazelnut Coffee?"

"Damn," he said, feigning forgetfulness. "I got the Black Licorice."

She smacked him playfully on the arm. "I don't believe that for one second. I'm not the only one here that hates it."

He smirked, pulling out the tub of Hazelnut Coffee. "I can't argue with that."

She shook her head, amused.

"Now, scram, or no ice cream," he quipped.

"That'd be hurting you more than myself," she said with a laugh. "Noah and you literally bonded over snacks when he was an infant, Mr. Sweet Tooth."

"And all the rest is just to stay alive," he quipped.

Olivia laughed, catching the reference, and headed to the living room to start the movie, Rafael not too far behind. He finished scooping the ice cream and poured them both a drink as well. He'd decided on ginger ale as they both had work.

He walked into the living room, placing everything on the table, and finally, took his seat on the couch.

He glanced at the television. "Pan's Labyrinth? Good choice."

"Glad you approve," she quipped. "Just don't fall asleep before Vidal returns to the labyrinth's entrance."

He grinned. "Hmm, I recall you being the one to pass out last time, Liv!"

"Are you sure, Counsellor?"

"Positive," he said with a grin. "The evidence is overwhelming, Lieutenant."

"We'll get it thrown out," she quipped, making a gesture with her hand.

He pushed her back on the couch slightly, kissing her deeply.

"More than happy to strike a plea deal," he said when they finally pulled apart.

"I figured you would be," she said, eyes twinkling.

He just chuckled, kissing her forehead. He then sat up, grabbed his drink, and allowed her to snuggle up to him. They sat in amiable silence, murmuring things from time to time, absorbed in the film and each other - the stress of their jobs forgotten.

What a way to spend a night.

Going into the interview the following day, he was nervous. And, so, he did what he always did when nervous and planned and replanned, going over every argument that a pundit could come up with in order to be uncooperative. He did, however, put on one of his more interesting suits; complete with a pink tie and matching suspenders. He wanted to make it obvious to her he might not necessarily be straight and wanted to see if she'd call him on it. He didn't need her flipping out on a jury member or someone else in court - or becoming more difficult later on if she found out and they'd already gone to trial, for that matter.

"Hello, my name is Rafael Barba," he said, offering the woman his hand, which she shook. "I'll be prosecuting the case, Ms. Bryant."

She gave him a rather assessing glance. "Lagerfeld?"

He gave her a friendly glance. "So, you know your fashion."

"It's a hobby," she said, looking at him like she was deeply torn about an issue and had something on the tip of her tongue.

"So, we have something in common then," he said casually, moving to take a seat, before looking up at the woman, smiling. Olivia to had to bite her lip; fighting a fit of laughter. The rest all wore faces of various degrees of amusement and curiosity for where this conversation was going.

"In the interest of full disclosure," he said, "I know you dissemble for a living. It's what you do. However, prosecuting is what I do. Remember that."

She nodded.

"The Defence is gonna turn your cross-examination into political theatre," he said, not missing a beat. "Do not let them."

"I can handle it."

"I'm telling you not to," he said, tone harsh and biting. "It's very important that you don't let him bait you. And remember that here, you're a victim. Do not act like a pundit." She moved to speak, and he silenced her. "If this turns into an info-war on MSNBC I will be unable to help you. It's crucial you understand that. They will walk if it's thought this is a political stunt. You will lose jurors if it becomes political, I can promise you that."

She considered his words, nodding. "Ok."

"Good," he said, pleased.

"Be sympathetic," he said, "be accessible. And above all, be an open book with the detectives and I. No lies or deceptions. Whatever you hold back or manipulate will be what is used to utterly decimate your case. If you don't believe me, ask another pundit you're familiar with who learned that the hard way."

"I got it," she said. "Although, you'll find I have a much stronger sense of self-preservation than Martha Cobb of all people."

"Damn well use it," he said with a smirk. "So, let's talk shall we?" She nodded, finally taking a seat as well. He then decided to push a little more. "So, that look earlier... what was that about?"

"What look?"

"When you commented on my suit," he casually pointed out.

She raised an eyebrow. "You're not very subtle."

He laughed. "I wasn't trying to be, Ms. Bryant." He gestured to his clothes. "This was a very deliberate choice for this morning, although I would have broached the topic on my own, later. If you have an issue with my prosecuting, feel free to see yourself out. Another prosecutor can take over."

She looked at him. "I don't think that'll be necessary. Your track record speaks for itself, although proves Martha's an idiot. Though, I could have told you that before." She paused. "I believe our differing views can be put to the side momentarily."

"Good," he said, leaning back in his chair. "So, let's talk about some of the areas that Defence might get into and what the trial process will look like."

He sat and talked with the woman for an hour before he felt they'd covered as much ground as was possible at the present. They'd meet again for trial prep at a later date, of course, but for now, they were done.

He and the squad then discussed their next steps, and then Carisi turned to him with an exceptionally curious look.

He quirked an eyebrow. "What, Carisi?"

"What's so special about that brand?" the detective asked.

"Lagerfeld was gay," he said softly. "I hadn't overly considered that, actually. I just picked it for the colours. Her knowing fashion brands just happened to be a fun bonus."

"Ah," was Carisi's only reply.

"You never do anything halfway, do you?" Rollins said, amused.

Olivia snorted.

He smiled at the group, oozing mirth. "That'd be a no. Now, somebody, please tell me some coffee's been made."

"There is," Olivia assured him. "Dodds threw on a fresh pot when he was here."

"Perfect," he said, turning on his heels and heading to grab a cup.

As Rafael was walking away, Fin's voice reached his ears. "Think they've got any support groups for caffeine addicts?"

There was a round of snickers. He rolled his eyes, despite knowing the man couldn't see it. "Don't make me hand your ass to you, Tutuola. I like my coffee intake as is, thank you very much."

Fin laughed. "I'd like to see you try, chicken legs."

He walked up, smirking. "Never underestimate a boy with a mouth from _el Barrio._" He took a sip of coffee. "Fights with others, particularly in PS109, were par for the course." Well, that and a friendly game of neighbourhood vandalism of abandoned buildings. Especially graffiti - which he may or may not have participated in once or twice as a young teen - and window smashing. There was never a dull moment in the South Bronx, that's for sure.

"_You_ got into fights?" Olivia said, giving him a look of both amusement and disbelief. He came out of his musings slightly. "You?"

"All too often," he said with a snort. "Not that I ever initiated any of the physical fights."

Given his size, he hadn't been stupid enough to. That didn't mean he hadn't learned how to defend himself, though. Still, thank god for Eddie. Eddie had the muscle and had defended him time and time again in fights where Rafael really hadn't stood a chance and had stupidly opened his mouth.

"Fair enough," Fin said, more than familiar with growing up in a poor community. "Been there myself. Harlem also liked its fair share of fist to cuffs."

"Oh, I can imagine," he said. "Honestly, there are a few things I miss about el Barrio, but watching people brawl gets old fast."

There were certain things about growing up in a poorer community that had made things difficult, but he'd come to appreciate the neighbourhood again in a lot of ways. It also helped that it had been cleaned up a lot and wasn't as rough anymore.

He'd never hated his old stomping grounds really, just got fed up with the gang situation, his father, and got swept up in his Ivy League life. His mother had tried to gently tell him that for years, that el Barrio wasn't that bad; the fight during everything with his abuela being a good example. Hadn't Alex accused him of the same thing, as well? Even Nick Amaro had hit the nail on the head, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

Yes, there was some crime, but the sense of community was next to none. And honestly, Manhattan had its fair share as well. Everywhere did if you payed attention. Cubans were very family-oriented as a whole and very proud. In that vein, it had hurt, though, being a teen and coming to Manhattan and seeing signs saying things like, _'No dogs. No kids. No Cubans.'_ Still, those things had just served to make them all that much prouder. It was a source of pride, in a way. _You can't tell me who I am._

Those incidences had been minor, however, and he hadn't truly understood how racist people could be until he left home. It had been shocking for a kid who grew up largely around other Cubanos. He'd been so embarrassed the first time he'd gotten yelled at for speaking Spanish with somebody, him and his friend getting told to go back where they came from. As though they both weren't born in the States. As though this wasn't _also_ their home. Yet...

This world that his generation had never lived in or had ever seen, they did not know it, and yet they felt like it was their power and their culture and their home. They longed for it. It was a weird thing. It really wasn't an easy thing growing up in that in between space, as first-generation American, trying to figure out where you fit in.

Another thing he'd loved about el Barrio was how everything was within walking distance. A huge thing for a teenager who preferred to be out of the house. Moreover, the markets were great, and the nightlife was incredible as well. You could walk through the main section, see a lot of mom and pop shops, and watch the performers outside smoking, drinking and just singing and having a good time.

He could remember going to a piano lounge, the upstairs part of this one restaurant, with his Tía Claudia, late Tío Antonio, his parents, grandparents, and several family friends. They would spend the evening singing and dancing casino. The dancing was a given. If you didn't learn they'd take away your Cuban card. His mother and abuela had taught him. As they'd all dance casino, you definitely had to be on your toes and ready to go.

He could clearly remember singing _El Reloj_, a favourite bolero of his, on one night in particular, when they were hanging out there, having entremeses, when he was in his late teens. He'd learned the song when he'd started learning guitar because his guitar teacher had rather liked his singing and decided to teach him several songs in Spanish.

Growing up Cuban-american, you heard so many stories about Cuba and how much better things were back then. '_¡El año que viene en Cuba!' _they'd often say. '_Next year in Cuba!'_ There was so much longing to go back, to go home.

There'd been a lot of time after school spent over a cup of Bustelo with Alex, Yelina, and Eddie and just hanging out in the neighbourhood getting up to some light mischief. He had started drinking coffee way before any doctor would probably advise, but a little café con leche as a six-year-old never hurt anyone.

He also had numerous memories of going to botanicas. His mother would slap his hand if he tried to touch any of the figurines of los santos or bottles in the shop. He would inevitably find himself intrigued with something or other.

Birthdays only meant one thing: Dominican cake. And, of course, it had the pineapple filling. That was one thing, even now, he always looked forward to on his birthday. His mother would always give him one when he went over there for dinner around or on his birthday.

Saturday night had meant watching Sabado Gigante, and on Sundays, they would also go to Mass. Beforehand, they'd often go get these bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches from the bodega. They were, frankly, the second-best breakfast delicacy to platano, salami, y queso frito. He'd actually made that the previous Saturday, and it turned out to be a big hit. Olivia was impressed with how adventurous Noah was becoming with food now.

Now, the sandwiches, that was one habit he'd gotten back into more Sundays than not. His mother was amused, and more than a little pleased, if he had to guess. Liv didn't understand how he could stomach so much grease in the morning, but they were so good. Ah well, there were worse 'guilty pleasures.'

His school had been a good experience in many ways too. He had a lot of good memories there and had great teachers. Yeah, there had been bullies from time to time, but then that had nothing to do with el Barrio. It was just teenagers being teenagers.

The several-months-long break from the D.A's office had been good for him in many ways. Figuring out who he, Rafael, not Barba the Ivy League lawyer, was again had been a good but painful thing. He'd done a fair amount of soul searching when trying to reconcile himself and his choices that had gotten him to that point.

He checked the time. "I'm going to grab lunch." He glanced around at them all. "Any special requests?"

"Just the usual," Carisi chirped.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Anyone else?"

"I'll just have a sandwich, please," Olivia said.

Rollins just rolled her shoulders back. "I second what Carisi said."

With an eye-roll, he made his way out of the precinct. "I'll holler at you people when I'm on my way back," he said, not realizing, at first, that the old slang term had rolled off his tongue.


	50. Chapter 50

Olivia got home rather late due to being called in for a Domestic Violence case. Thankfully, it was just the wife wanting to leave and needing the support as she was, understandably anxious. Her and Carisi had both gone, Carisi sticking by the husband's side.

In reasonably little time, Olivia had helped the mother, Lydia, pack a bag for herself and her two young children. She'd then seen them off to Lydia's sister's place, filed a report, talked to Dodds and, finally, came home.

She glanced around the calm house. Rafael had clearly left dishes out for dinner out for her. Noah was also no doubt fast asleep, given the late hour. Especially given the fact that he had a playdate with one of his friends from Kids Club the next day.

Checking on Noah quickly, she heard laughter coming from Rafael's study.

"No, ni siquiera puedes negarlo, Neto." A snort. "Tú deseas. Con toda seriedad, sin embargo, felicitaciones por la promoción. No aún no. Sí. Sí. No es seguro. Me gustaría, pero -" He laughed again. "Dile a la tía que te golpee." A snort. "Por supuesto. Bueno, eso me trae recuerdos. Oh, lo sé. ¡Qué vergüenza!" Another laugh. "Oh, definitivamente vale la pena. ¡Claro!" Rafael paused. "Creo que mi novia está en casa ahora, y quiero jama. Sí. Sí. Gracias. Los extraño a todos. Hablamos pronto." Another chuckle. "¡Claro! ¡Chao, pesca'o!"

She shook her head a little amused. She understood basically everything but it was hard to follow him when he used Cuban slang. She was glad he'd had the chance to call Ernesto, though, and stay in touch with his family. A short moment later, he opened the door and gave her a quick kiss. "When did you get home, Cariño?"

"Just a couple minutes ago," she said. "How's Ernesto?"

"Causing chaos as usual," he replied, amused. "He got a promotion at work, however."

"Good for him," she said earnestly.

"Very," he said with a curt nod. "Have you eaten?"

"Not yet," she said. "But I'm definitely hungry."

"I'll go heat it up," he said. softly. "It shouldn't take more than five minutes."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Ropa Vieja."

"Hmmm, I've wanted to try that for a while."

"Thank Lucy for starting parts of it for me," he said with a laugh. "Noah liked it as well, although I don't think he's the biggest fan of cumin."

"Comes with the age," she said, amused. "What has gotten into you lately?"

He shrugged. "Spending a lot more time in the Bronx, I suppose."

"Well, I happen to like it," Olivia comment, giving him a quick kiss. "Siéntete orgulloso de donde vienes." (Be proud of where you come from.)

"Hmmm," he said. "You're incredible, Liv, you know that?"

She gave him a cheesy look. "Flattery will get you everywhere, mi Cubano."

He pulled her in for a deep kiss. "Let's take this to the kitchen, shall we?"

In the kitchen, their dinner having been reheated, both sat and talked; just soaking in the other's presence. It was nice getting a bit of alone time with her. It felt like they didn't get enough sometimes. He might take his mother up on another night of babysitting soon.

He was pulled out of that train of thought by Olivia's voice. "I hope you know I'm making you make more soon. This is really good."

He chuckled slightly. "I figured you'd like it."

Olivia asked a few questions about the dish and before Rafael knew it they were discussing his grandparents. She talked some about her own family, her grandparents having both passed away when she was quite young. Then the conversation seemed to take on a life of its own.

The hours seemed to fly by while they talked about everything under the sun, and, before they knew it, it was already one o'clock in the morning.

Saturday, they managed to not get called in first thing in the morning, thankfully. They were able to sleep in, and Rafael, who had woken up a bit earlier than Olivia, had Noah resting on the couch and watching an episode of _Go, Diego, Go!_

When Olivia walked out he'd just finished cooking breakfast. He'd decided on some toast, scrambled eggs, bacon and diced potatoes.

Once breakfast was over and tidied up, they'd taken Noah to the Bronx zoo with his mother, and the Garcias. The two boys had been a bit awkward at first, but after about ten minutes they were running around, having a blast. Sebastián was several years older than Noah, having just turned fourteen, but was totally in his element, happily showing off all his knowledge about the animals they were seeing, and gently correcting errors with Noah's Spanish.

Eddie looked at him. "Tal vez esto hará que el deseo de un hermano menor salga del sistema." He looked at Rafael, who was giving him a rather pointed look. "Well, I can hope." (Maybe this will get the wish for a younger brother out of his system.)

"Let me know how that pans out," he said with a laugh. "¡Buena suerte!" (Good luck!)

Eddie rolled his eyes, deciding not to retort.

"Just you wait, Rafi," his mother said smugly. "El karma no perdona a nadie." (Karma doesn't forgive anyone.)

Olivia chuckled softly. "That's one bridge we'll cross if it comes to it. But, Noah did ask you a few times about us getting married before you proposed."

"That he did," Rafael agreed.

Eddie gestured towards Noah. "His Spanish has gotten quite good. I'm surprised, given how little time he's really been learning. It's not an easy thing."

"I'm just as surprised that he's taken to it so well," Rafael admitted. He did love sharing his culture and language with Noah, though. It surprised him, as he'd never thought he'd be so open to kids and being a father figure.

"Oh, he loves it. Rafael uses a fair amount with him, and then he goes to Kids Club. He always has fun there," Olivia said. "Su acento es mejor que el mío. He's started correcting my pronunciation. No, Mama. It's perro, not pero. You have to roll your r. See?" (His accent is better than mine.)

"An accurate imitation," Rafael said, chuckling softly.

"Como padre tanto hijo," his mother said. She turned slightly to face Rafael. "You did the same thing to your poor abuela with her English." (Like father like son.)

"Y yo," Eddie added smugly. (And me.)

Olivia giggled. "Por supuesto que lo hizo." (Of course he did.)

The better part of the morning was spent there, at the zoo, and then they went to grab lunch at the Havana Café on Tremont. After that, they took the boys to the park nearby. The same one where Rafael had been forced to confront Eddie about his involvement in Alejandro's schemes. It was nice to be there under much better circumstances, this time.

The boys played at the park for about an hour before they all said their goodbyes and they dropped Noah off at his friend Sam's house.

"It is this one, correct?" Olivia said, asking Noah.

Noah furrowed his brow. "Yes, I remember that car and the colour."

"Perfect," she said, undoing her seatbelt.

They then made their way up to the fourth floor. Noah knocked and within moments, Sam's grandmother opened the door. "Sr. Barba, es bueno verte de nuevo. Espero que todo esté bien." (Mr. Barba, it's good to see you again. I hope all is going well.)

"Todos lo estamos haciendo muy bien, gracias, Sra. Martínez." (We are all doing very well, thank you, Mrs. Martinez.)

Olivia gave the elderly woman a warm smile as she spoke. "Lo que dijo mi novio." (What my boyfriend said.)

"Bien, bien", the elderly lady replied. "¡Sam, tu amigo está aquí!" (Sam, your friend is here!)

"¡Ya voy, Abuelita!" the young boy's voice came. (I'm coming, Grandma!)

They then heard footsteps running down the hall. "Hola, Noah. ¿Cómo estás?" (Hi, Noah. How are you?)

"Bien, gracias," Noah replied. "Fui al zoológico del Bronx más tempra...temprano... hoy y luego fui al parque." Noah then turned to his mother and gave her a hug and then Rafael as well. He then looked at both of them. "See you soon." (Good, thanks. I went to the Bronx Zoo earl...earlier today... and went to the park afterwards.)

"Have fun," she said. "Don't get into too much trouble."

"Never," Noah said with a cheeky grin so like Rafael's own.

Rafael shook his head, amused. "Te veo pronto, Mijo."

Finishing their goodbyes, they left Noah and headed down to the car.

Rafael was vaguely considering take remedial driving lessons as it had been so long, but, for now, he just let Olivia drive.

Once they were both seated and buckled in, he turned to face Olivia. "How do you feel about a stroll through Socrates Sculpture Park?" Socrates was an outdoor museum and public park where artists could create and exhibit sculptures and multi-media installations.

"That's in Queens, isn't it?"

"Yes. Near the Astoria neighbourhood, I believe it's called."

She grinned. "Sounds like a good way to spend an afternoon to me."


	51. Chapter 51

Sunday, Rafael got up and, as usual, attended Mass at St Theresa's with his mother and the Garcias. Noah had still been sleeping, as had Liv, so he set up breakfast for them both, wrote a little note, and made the trip to the Bronx.

Once he was back home, he and Olivia played with Noah some and Liv made them all lunch while he and Noah were still playing robots.

Once Noah had cleaned up his lego, and Rafael did the dishes, they went to meet up with Carisi and the Rollins family at Brooklyn Children's Museum. Fin had come as well, as the grandpa had babysitting duty as his son and the boyfriend had made plans. Seeing Fin in grandfather mode was amusing, if only because Fin was, well, Fin. The group stayed at the museum until it was time to go their separate ways and make the trip back to Manhattan - for Spaghetti night, at Noah's request.

Once Noah was in bed, he watched a show, relaxing with Liv, before going to his office to try and get some work done while she read a book Melinda Warner had recommended to her.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a weekend.

Monday, he found himself, clad in a yellow suit, cutting a deal for a case with another pair of naive college students that had never been taught that informative consent was a thing. Seriously, what was so hard about getting a verbal yes or no?

After that, he swung by his office and then made his way to prep Bryant for her trial. It had gone reasonably well, so, after failing to plead it out again, he successfully got the indictment and a court date for five days later.

He looked at Carisi. "You know that suicidal streak I mentioned?"

The detective snorted. "Yeah."

"Just checking," he said, finishing his coffee.

Olivia gave him a soft smile. "You'll be fine."

"It's worth whatever chaos it brings to the table," he said, "but I'm going to need a good shower after this." He didn't like this case in the slightest, but hopefully, Bryant would use that self-preservation she boasted of and not get them both in trouble.

The only bright side was that the media hadn't been as bad as expected. He did his best to control the media and Braun seemed to actually be working along the same vein. Braun didn't want street riots either. That wasn't to say the media was good. People, reporters especially, were still going crazy, but it wasn't nearly as bad as he feared it would be. Thank God for small mercies.

The lieutenant looked at him pointedly. "You're doing the right thing and you know it."

Rafael started making his way to the garbage can a couple of metres away to throw away his empty coffee cup. "I know. I may not agree with her, but I will defend to the death her right to make an ass of herself."

Carisi moved closer, speaking up. "Freedom of speech does not protect you from the consequences of saying stupid stuff."

"Oh, I agree," he said, adjusting his tie. "I'll deal with Ms. Wonderful later. Although, the small optimistic part of me is hoping she's learned her lesson." He turned to Liv. "Don't you just love free speech?"

"We blame all kinds of people for creating monsters," she said, "why not ourselves?"

"It's easy to blame others for your situation," he replied without preamble.

Olivia nodded. "Still -"

Before long it was time for opening statements.

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear," he said as he walked to the centre of the room. "The people will show that the defendants not only committed a brutal physical assault against Ms. Bryant but in doing so, committed a second crime. Impeaching on someone's rights to free speech. They attacked someone for what amounts to thought crime in their eyes." He glanced around at the jury. "If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. We can not stand by and allow our silence to say that assaulting and attempting to rape someone for their beliefs is anything but utterly reprehensible." He took a few steps closer to the jury. "They attacked and assaulted a woman for her beliefs, and that's all you need to know to convict them of their crimes." He glanced at them, pointedly, before taking a seat.

Counsellor Evan Braun, who had been retained for both Jones and Baker, got up and made his way to where Rafael had been standing mere moments before.

"The problem with today's world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion AND have others listen to it," Councillor Braun said. "What about when those opinions infringe on my own rights? Messrs. Jones and Baker are part of a group that has long suffered persecution and hatred." Braun gestured to Rafael. "Prosecution would like you to believe that Sarah Bryant is a victim. The truth is, she has victimized others through her words, cruel and cutting as they've been. One bee sting doesn't hurt a horse, but enough bee stings can kill a horse." Braun walked up to the jury. "If verbal abuse had consequences, it would stop right now. While you hear the testimony, ask yourselves who the real victim is here."

Once able, Rafael immediately called the two witnesses. He wanted to make sure the witness testimony had time to sink in before Braun was able to do much damage. It would make things easier later.

Finally, it was time for Bryant to take the stand.

"Ms. Bryant, where did you meet the defendants?"

"I ran into them when I was leaving Bluestone Lane."

"What kind of establishment is that?"

"It's a coffee shop."

"What were you doing there?"

"I had a meeting with a reporter."

He nodded. "Had you met either of the defendants before?"

"No," she said. "Not that I recall."

"I see." He took a step closer. "So, you never personally offended or attacked them?"

"OBJECTION!" came Braun's voice, unsurprisingly.

"I'll allow it," Judge Bradley said. "For now." The judge gave Rafael a rather pointed look at the last part.

He nodded. "Ms. Bryant, did you ever specifically attack these individuals, verbally or otherwise?"

"No," she said.

"I see," he said. "So, what are your views on members of the LGBTQ community?" This was one issue that it was better to get in front of sooner rather than later.

"I disagree with the lifestyle," she said calmly.

"Can you elaborate?" This was the one question he forced himself to ask several times in prep so he'd get used to the answer. Otherwise, he knew he wouldn't have been able to keep his poker face in check.

"I think queer people are mentally ill," she said, "but with some support they can adjust to life very well."

"I see," he said, still fighting to make sure to not give any of his thoughts or feelings away. "So, you don't want them dead?"

"No, of course not!" she said. "I am pro-therapy, and am strictly against violence in any form."

"Anti-violence," he said. "Very admirable."

"OBJECTION!"

"Overruled," the judge said.

Rafael walked closer and gave a casual gesture with his right hand. "So, did the defendants approach you, Ms. Bryant, or did you approach them?

"They approached me."

"And what happened then?"

"They made it very clear that they recognized me," she explained. "They quoted a few statements of mine and they said they would teach me to keep my mouth shut."

"And what happened next?"

"I was walking to my car and Mr. Jones grabbed my arm," she said. "He said he wasn't done talking. I was then pulled into the alleyway."

"And what happened there?

"Mr. Baker shoved me to the ground, kicking my side multiple times. Then Mr. Jones joined in as well."

"Did you try to leave?"

"No."

"And why didn't you?"

"It hurt to move," Bryant said. "Mr. Baker was calling me names while they beat me. They were vicious. Out of control. The more it hurt me, the happier it seemed they were. Then Mr. Jones tried to force himself into me while Mr. Baker was holding me down. I bit Mr. Baker, managed to kick Mr. Jones in the groin, but was unable to get up. Then this couple showed up and distracted them enough that I was able to get free. They walked with me to the nearest store where I then contacted the police."

"Thank you, Ms. Bryant," he said. "Now, I'm going to show you several photos. Please identify anyone you recognize in them."

He flipped through six photos. Each time she positively identified the defendants it was another metaphorical nail in the coffin. Just how he liked it.

Once the video of the attack was played, he gestured for the plaintiff to speak. "That is me with both of the defendants."

"Thank you, Ms. Bryant," he said. "That can't have been easy." He moved towards his seat. "No more for this witness, Your Honour."

Now came the fun part; dealing with the Defence's cross-examination.

As predicted, Braun's cross was a nightmare and Rafael lost count of how many times he'd objected. Bryant held her own rather well, though, and he was confident that he'd been able to undo a large portion of the damage during his redirect.

They'd ended up running slightly late, so Judge Bradley had swiftly proceeded to dismiss the court for lunch once Rafael's redirect was finished.

He walked out of the courtroom with a smirk, and it barely took a minute for him to spot the squad, waiting, a few feet away.

"You're smiling, Barba," Rollins said. "Who are you decimating?"

He laughed. "You don't hear the sound of Braun's pride getting flushed down the toilet?"

Olivia shook her head, amused. "I take it things went well?"

"We're not out of trouble yet," he said. "Thankfully, Braun's clients have decided that a guaranteed gay bashing isn't worth it, and haven't caused a massive storm. Still, the D.A's not ecstatic. He knew I was going to take the case, though. As long as we keep the press from having more of a tantrum than it is already, we should be ok."

"And court today?" the lieutenant asked.

He smirked again. "I'm fully expecting two guilty verdicts."

Liv nodded, pleased. "Good."

"So," Carisi said, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I could eat."

"Carisi actually has a good idea," Fin quipped.

The blond detective rolled his eyes.

"Lead the way, Staten Island," he said.

"Then to the Chipolo, it is," Carisi said.

Rafael glared at Carisi. "Sure, because I love spending my money on stale bread."

Carisi looked at him. "It's not that bad."

"The bread tastes days old," he said with a sneer, "and that sandwich was definitely not worth $15." It had been disgusting.

Carisi rolled his eyes. "One time."

Rollins raised an eyebrow. "Really, children?"

Carisi looked offended he was included in that and Rafael just rolled his eyes. "It's some sort of food safety hazard."

Carisi gave a snort. "Drama queen."

Okay, even he could admit the last comment might have been a little much.

"How about the Breakroom?" Liv suggested.

"Now, that, I can live with," Rafael said.

"Thank god for that," Fin said. "Let's go before he changes his mind."

He chuckled. "I'm not that bad."

Olivia looked at him. "You _are_ pretty picky when it comes to food, Rafa."

He shrugged. "Not my fault I know good food. Unlike some people." The direction of his gaze made it very clear who he was referring to.

He suddenly felt Fin's hand cuffing him square in the back of the head. "Ouch!"

Fin gave him a pointed look. "You ruin my lunch and I will put my foot up your ass."

"Duly noted."

The other man smiled. "Glad we're on the same page."

The rest of the squad just burst out in a fit of laughter at the look on Rafael's face. He looked so put out.

"Oh, Rafa," Liv said, biting her lip, amused.

"Don't even," he drawled, eyes sparkling. He wasn't upset really. The situation was actually pretty funny.

An hour later, back at court, closing statements went as well as he could have hoped for. There had been several hiccups, but Defence Counsel hadn't been able to do enough damage to really concern Rafael.

He had, however, crumpled up his written closing-argument and dramatically chucked it, and went off on a bit of a tangent. Not for the first time. He knew he'd won over at least one other juror and he suspected another.

They were dismissed by three o'clock, and then it was just a waiting game while the jury deliberated.

He went back to his office and read a book as he was required to stay close.

At half-past five, he was informed that the jury was going for dinner, and met the squad at Forlini's.

By seven o'clock he was back in his office, replying to some of his work e-mails, and generally just twiddling his thumbs, texting with Eddie, Rita and Liv.

It was eight o'clock when he, at long last, got the call and had to run back down to the courtroom. He hadn't been disappointed, though. Both defendants had been found guilty on all charges. Now to just keep the media from escalating for a few more days until this case was wrapping the fish, so to speak.


	52. Chapter 52

The next couple of weeks seemed to pass in a slight blur of political drama, caffeine-induced energy, and little sleep.

He'd been invited to go boating with some of his associates from the D.A's office the previous weekend, and so he and Liv spent the day with a bunch of upper-class snobs.

He'd worn his yellow tracksuit again just to mess with Olivia, who'd made a joke about it, not thinking he'd follow through.

He'd slipped back into that world easily enough, and didn't feel particularly out of place. Liv, however, had been a bit uncomfortable at first. She'd enjoyed herself as well, though both of them were happy when the all of showboating was over.

On top of that, he'd filed the adoption paperwork for Noah and the home study had begun. He'd made sure to finish work early the night before, to focus on Noah, and the following day he'd gone home right after court, walking Noah home from school.

The visit had gone quite well, thankfully. It was the other series of meetings he was concerned about, given his current schedule. If things went as smoothly as he hoped, Judge Linden would be signing off on the adoption papers for Noah Barba-Benson before long and he'd officially get to call himself the six-year-old's father.

The chaos of the Kings Country D.A elections had the Manhattan office in a storm, as well, now that the election date was getting so close. Two Manhattan Executive ADAs were running and one had transferred out of Manhattan for political reasons.

It looked like EADA Chauncey Parker, who he and Olivia met at their conference, was going to win, but it was a close run between him, EADA Hilary Hassler, and Kings County EADA Michael Sachs. He was sort of rooting for Hassler if he was honest. She had done very well for herself in the Appeals Bureau and it was about time a woman was elected, in his opinion, to the very male-dominated role. Still, Parker did seem like he'd be a good choice as well.

EADA Parker was instrumental in creating the Office's Crime Strategies Unit and Community Partnerships Unit.

He wasn't heartbroken that Mark Feldman, who he knew from his time in Kings County's Hate Crimes during his early career, was out of the running. They'd started off on the wrong foot and then it took on a life of its own. Neither were fans of the other.

As for Rafael, his own caseload had shot way up. Most of them were run-of-the-mill and he'd been able to cut one or two more-than-satisfactory deals. One case, he didn't see actually going anywhere, but it was what it was. He was considering dropping the charges, however. As it was, he was wary to take such a weak case to trial. He was also now covering a mess of a case for a colleague who had felt the need to formally recuse themselves. That meant a lot of overtime and playing catchup on a case that was already well into the judiciary process.

He didn't get to see Noah or well, anyone outside of work, that much, and felt bad. There wasn't a whole lot he could do, though, he felt. He was asked to take the case, and the way it was asked had made it clear it wasn't really a question.

In a week it would be in court and, finally, done. The verdict in the jury's hands.

He and Liv had had a rather impassioned fight about the overtime he was putting in, which made him feel horrid. He was trying, though. He really was.

Thankfully, they'd managed to work it out, and he tried to taper back on the overtime, which had been made easier by him having already completed much of the research he'd needed to do. He'd also managed to use a motion hearing to get the trial date pushed two days later than previously scheduled. It wasn't much, but it was something. Rita was on this case, so he figured she'd suspected the real reason and had taken pity on him.

The _I Am Evidence_ conference at Lenox Hill had gone well, and they'd already received enough new funding to get two more sitting rape kits tested. Hopefully, things would continue in that vein. The rape kit backlog really was a problem.

"What is the point of having a national DNA database if the rapist's DNA is never entered into it." That had been Olivia's opening statement after Rafael had spoken some and introduced her.

Finally, on May 15, District Attorney Davis officially stepped down and Parker was named as the new Kings County District Attorney.

Then, at long last, that Saturday arrived. Keeping the wedding a small, much more intimate, affaire had been perfect for them.

He'd been a bit nervous, but Eddie had squeezed his shoulder in a quick comforting motion. Once he saw her walking towards him, all his doubts faded away instantly. She took his breath away. She'd looked absolutely stunning, and looked every inch the epitome of happy.

When he said his vows, he could see his mother crying, and his voice caught as well.

No, it wouldn't always be easy. But damn if she and Noah weren't completely worth it.

He had no doubt that he would always look back on this as the best day of his life. Olivia was his wife now. It felt like a crazy dream.

They'd both taken the Monday off so Noah stayed with his mother for two days. They'd really needed that, the time just focusing on them.

They stayed in the James Hotel on SoHo for a slight change. They wanted out of the house so decided to plan a 'staycation' as Liv called it.

Breakfast was a lovely buffet which included fruit and individual pans of oatmeal and seared sugared pink grapefruit.

They'd relaxed most of the first morning and then had a picnic in the park, which had been lovely. They'd then done a two-hour tour of the Met and went to relax by the pool as it was a surprisingly warm day. They'd gone out for dinner and then out salsa dancing - Liv still needed some practice but had done quite well. Back at the hotel they'd then had a couple of glasses of wine, and just relaxed and chatted, eventually falling asleep in each other's arms to a show they'd put on.

The following day they sat around the pool for a bit, went to see the International fair in Queens, and the went out to a nice sushi restaurant they'd wanted to try.

When they got home Noah was already fast asleep, so they gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, careful not to wake him.

They chatted with his mother some before she had to go home.

That night they fell asleep in each other's arms again.

Little over a week later he got a call that he'd secretly been hoping would come.

They had everyone for dinner because they finally all caught enough time to breathe. He's just finished helping Liv clean up from dinner and was dishing up some Natilla for dessert when the call came in.

"Why's McCoy calling you so late?" Carisi inquired. "Today wasn't a court day."

"Not sure," he said, moving to answer the call.

He hadn't wanted to get his hopes up, but McCoy had wasted no time in getting to the crux of the matter.

"Yes, sir. Of course. Yes. Yes. It's appreciated. Understood." Liv gave him a questioning look at his rambling. "Yes. Goodnight to you as well."

He hung up, fighting, and succeeding, to keep the stupid grin off his face that was threatening to appear. He wanted to mess with everyone a bit.

"What is it?" Fin asked.

"You're not in trouble are you?" Liv asked.

Rita gave him a look that clearly said, _"Is it what I think it is?"_

He quickly wracked his brain for how to word it to get the best effect. "Effective immediately I am no longer a Sex Crimes ADA."

Instantly the chatter started. "Are you being transferred? What happened? Are you in trouble? Who will replace you...?"

He locked eyes with Rita, gave her a look, confirming her suspicions, and she started snickering and he couldn't hold back the stupid grin any longer.

"Okay, Rafael Antonio Barba," Liv said, pointing a finger at him. "Somebody better explain right this minute."

"I'm no longer an ADA at all, actually," he said, causing everyone to give him funny looks. "You're looking at THE new Executive Assistant District Attorney and Chief of Manhattan Sex Crimes."

That would change certain things. He was now considered the second-in-command and would report directly to the D.A. He would also have a larger role in managing the daily activities and supervision of the Sex Crimes Unit - and thereby the Special Victims Bureau - within the office. He would be expected to supervise the larger crimes his ADAs were prosecuting within his jurisdiction, which meant he'd oversee cases for over a dozen precincts. In the Manhattan D.A's Office, the Executive ADA also had the responsibility of hiring lawyers and support staff, as well as supervising press-releases.

That's why he'd had that press-release set up a while back and EADA Lee had backed off some, McCoy coming to ask the questions more than anything.

Liv's arms wrapped around him. "That's great, Rafa! I'm so proud of you."

There were cheers of congratulations and shaking hands.

Rita gave a self-satisfied smirk. "I told you you'd get it, Boogerface.

He simpered. "I said I didn't want to get my hopes up, not that it wouldn't happen, Twinkle-toes."

"Same difference," Rita said, waving his comment off. He shook his head amused. Of course, that would be her response.

"What happened?" Noah asked. "Your boss is happy?"

He laughed. "Yes, Noah. Very happy. I got a promotion."

"That's like an award, right?" the young boy asked.

"Essentially," he said, still grinning stupidly.

"Felicidades, Papi!" While saying that, Noah gave him a big hug.

Rather surprised, Rafael's heart fluttered at hearing Noah call him that for the very first time. "Gracias, Mijo," he said, fighting back tears. He gave the young boy another firm hug and pulled Liv into another one. "I'll watch my personal caseload, I promise." He kissed her. "You both are my priority; I hope you know that."

"I do," she said, pulling him in for a hug again. "Don't worry about a thing. What's a little more crazy in our lives?"

"You think I'm crazy?" he asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"I sure do," she said, giving him a look of fond amusement. "It's why I'm here."

"I'm so glad."

"That I'm here?"

He looked at her tenderly. "That you think I'm crazy."

His wife gave a soft chuckle. "That's why there's nobody else I'd rather be squabbling with at eighty-five."


	53. Chapter 53

Olivia was looking at her newspaper, reading intently. On this particular Tuesday morning they'd woken up a bit early and, as such, had been able to ease into their morning.

"What's so interesting?"

She pushed the newspaper over to him. "Well, it's something."

**Statement by Manhattan D.A. Jack McCoy: Urging Passage of "Greenlight NY" Legislation**

_"Our streets are safer when all drivers – regardless of their federal immigration status – can lawfully take driver's education courses, pass driving tests, obtain proper licensing, and operate registered, inspected, and insured vehicles."_

"Riveting." He pushed it back to her. "Anything else interesting?"

He was fully behind Jack with this one but had already known about the planned press release and the D.A's views on the matter, so it didn't come as much of a surprise.

She snorted. "Not unless you care about how safe Sunscreen is."

He looked at her. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Alas, I'm not," she said. "It's right here." She flipped the paper around to show him the article.

"And this is why I'm glad to be Cuban."

"Yeah, yeah," she said. "Brag about your tanning abilities this summer when I'm nothing but a red lobster."

"Apt description." It really was. She burned really easy. Her and Noah both.

"Unfortunately," she said. "That also means that I don't care what that article says. I'll give up sunscreen when you give up coffee."

"You'll be waiting a long time then, Mama," Noah said pointedly, gesturing toward Rafael. "He's already on his second cup."

"The kid's right," he said. He pretended to look pensive. "You could buy a hat."

"Yes, because that will help the arms."

He rolled his eyes, and Noah laughed. "You're silly, Mama. That won't help."

He had to stifle a laugh. Poor Noah had clearly missed the sarcasm. "He's got you there, Cariño."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're right, Sweet Boy. I have no idea what I was thinking."

"That's okay," he said. "Can I have more toast, please?"

"Sure, Mijo," he said. "Peanut butter again?"

Noah nodded eagerly. "Sí, por favor."

He poured himself another cup of Bustelo, put some peanut butter on Noah's toast, and made his way back to the kitchen table.

"Gracias."

"De nada."

They chatted amicably while Noah finished his breakfast, and once he was washed up, they both walked him to school. Liv then dropped him off at his office quickly before running down to the precinct for work.

"Remember, we have that meeting with Judge Linden this afternoon."

He kissed her on the forehead. "I know. I'll be there."

They'd now had two home visits and one meeting with both the caseworker and Judge Linden. The judge seemed to have little issue with him, but Mrs. Jackson, the caseworker, was a tough nut to crack. Drew Householder had come up and he'd been very blunt and honest, deciding it was best to not try and evade anything.

Liv had also warned him that the caseworker had been difficult with her as well, especially due to her work hours, so to make a point of being available whenever the woman was within smelling distance.

By the end of the conversation with Mrs. Jackson however, the caseworker admitted that he'd assuaged some of her more pressing concerns. She'd also talked to Noah, which had gone relatively well.

He's also had to spend almost the entirety of the last two weekends in parenting classes he was required to take and dealing with work.

He'd had to run into work on Sunday to fix up a newer ADA's mess because apparently, he'd screwed up on paperwork. Badly enough that the opposing counsel would have gotten an appeal in a heartbeat. Thankfully, the young ADA had the common sense to call and confirm what was needed before submitting the documents, which is when Rafael had basically told him to burn the damn thing and he'd see him soon.

They had wanted him to take the classes over a month, but he didn't trust his schedule and wanted it over and done with.

The hours spent in class has been worth it, though, because, satisfied, and having talked to Noah once more, the caseworker announced she was recommending Rafael be approved as an adoptive parent.

They'd, of course, quickly called Judge Linden to set up an appointment to finalize the adoption.

She kissed him goodbye and he made his way up to his office.

Unfortunately, he'd had to turn down Noah's request for him to accompany the boy on one of his classes outings, however. Noah's class was going to Pip's Island. Rafael would have loved to chaperon, but it just wasn't feasible on the specific date. He had court that day. There was nothing he could do. He'd promised Noah they'd go do something just the two of them that following weekend, though, which seemed to cheer the boy up some. Rafael had managed to get off early enough to surprise the kid after school, picking him up and taking Noah out for ice cream. Noah had been more than a little enthusiastic, recounting the entire thing. His son was certain it had been the best field trip ever, and Rafael was just glad Noah had enjoyed himself despite the earlier disappointment.

He'd been the Executive ADA for little over three weeks and to say it was an adjustment would be an understatement.

He was constantly fielding calls from his ADAs and hearing from the D.A a lot more. And when that wasn't happening he spent a large amount of time in touch with the Sex Offenders Monitoring Unit and DNA Tracking Unit. He hadn't met with the SVLU yet but figured he would in due time.

He wanted to hire some new people as quickly as possible. He'd already hired one new ADA hopeful that, as it turned out, was a classmate of Carisi's at Fordham who came with a good recommendation.

He was in search of two others as well and had already set up an Executive Panel Interview for five candidates. It would make it that much easier for him to take on a slightly smaller caseload if he had a couple more hands on deck. He'd still have a decent caseload, but still.

While all this was going on he'd taken two cases to court and managed to plead out two others. He'd also managed to get a conviction for Hughes v. Powell, the case he'd taken over, which he was rather pleased with. Thankfully, Liv understood that there was going to be a hectic adjustment period and it hadn't caused a fight again.

He spoke with Carmen some, getting his updated schedule, and set to work answering emails and returning several calls.

That had taken up about an hour and then he got to work getting ready to file a motion to compel as one of his cases had a difficult witness.

He then informed opposing counsel, Rita, of his motion and was given time for a motion hearing later that day. He'd be glad when that case was done. He'd already had to do a motion in limine for it.

Eventually, he fell so far down the rabbit hole of police reports that Carmen popped in, telling him it was lunchtime.

He ended up eating at Forlini's with Liv who had just finished testifying in a lawsuit case.

"So, what happened exactly?" he inquired in between bites of food.

"As I said," she explained, "the charges were dropped. Staines then stopped me on my way here to chat. She wanted to let me know that there were no hard feelings and offered me one of her tickets to the police philanthropy event tomorrow."

He raised an eyebrow. "She thought that was appropriate?"

She gave a little snort. "I asked the same thing. Apparently, it has nothing to do with my unit, so shouldn't pose a problem."

He hummed. "What did you say?"

"I told her I'd see her there as I already have a ticket and walked away," his wife explained. She shook her head. "Honestly, Rafa."

"Do you still want to go?"

"Dodds'll throw a fit if I don't make an appearance."

"Oh, the joys of politics."

"That's one way to put it," she said. "So, how do you feel about having everyone over tonight?"

He gave her a soft smile. "It sounds nice. I can let Fin yell at the dumbass who calls me and pretend I'm not there."

She laughed. "You would."

"Who the hell can't fill out a basic paper form?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be too hard on Collins."

"I can't," he deadpanned. "It would be more of a punishment for me than him." He looked at her. "In all seriousness, a small party would be nice."

"Then I'll let your mom know to come by," she said with a grin.

They finished their food and talked some more before they were interrupted by work - Collins again - and had to go their separate ways.

Back in his office, he went through a few more police reports before an ADA called him to give him an update, explaining that a plea deal had been reached on one of the ADA's cases involving a sex worker who'd been beaten and raped.

Small mercies.

He'd then replied to another email and gotten through part of another police report when it was time to go to the motion hearing.

This time, he won. He'd lost the previous hearing when Rita had moved to get a rather damaging article admitted. He'd then been forced to make a game plan to counteract the damage and his witness had been, frankly, up there with some of the worst he'd ever had. Hence, the motion hearing.

Once court was finished, he grabbed a stack of files, dropped them off at home, locked his study, and ran to the school to get Noah, while trying to talk to one of his senior ADAs, who bless him, actually knew how to do his damn job and had managed two get a conviction in court only ten minutes previous and was on his way to a meeting to finalize a plea deal on another one.

"Text me as soon as it's finalized," he said.

"Will do," ADA Clark said. "Hang in there. I know it's been a rough month."

"Sentiment appreciated," he said. "You're currently my favourite ADA. Collins is five seconds from a smack upside the head."

Clark laughed. "I'll smack him for you the next time I see him."

He snorted, smiling slightly as Noah approached him. "Please don't. You might damage his remaining brain cells. In any case, I have to go. Godspeed."

He hung up and immediately got pulled into a hug. "Hola, Mijo. Tuviste un buen día?" (Hi, Son. Did you have a good day?)

"Sí," the young boy said, smiling. "Vamos a la reunión ahora?" (Yes. Are we going to the meeting now?)

He was obviously asking about the meeting with Family Court. "Sí. Mamá ya nos está esperando en casa. Estas bien con eso?" (Yes. Mom's already waiting for us at home. Are you ok with that?)

"Sí, Papi," Noah assured him. "I'm excited."

Rafael's heart fluttered again. Noah went back and forth between calling him Rafa and Papi but had started doing it more and more lately.

He smiled down at Noah, ruffling the six-year-old's hair. He then decided to take his schoolbag as Noah would walk faster that way. "Yo también, Mijo. Me too."

When they arrived back at the house, Liv was already there, as expected. He ran inside with Noah, let him into the house, and dropped off his schoolbag. They then quickly got into the car and made the drive down to Family Court.

"How was school?" Liv asked.

"It was good," Noah replied. "Art was really fun."

"Oh, what are you making?"

"A paper hat," Noah said, "like Cat in the Hat. I'm having a hard time getting the bottom to stick, though. It fell apart."

"You'll figure it out," Liv said. "Ask your teacher for help if you need to."

He looked at Noah in the back seat. "See, it's not just me."

Noah chuckled. "Ok. You win."

"I don't even want to know," Liv said, amused. "What did you do at recess?"

And, just like that, Noah was off on a tangent, and they spent the rest of the car ride in happy chatter. It had taken some time, but they'd finally managed to find a parking spot, which wasn't always an easy thing in Downtown New York. At long last, they got out of the car and walked into the courthouse, being quickly steered by their attorney, Trevor Langan, to Judge Linden's chambers.

They stood up in front of the judge, and she swore them in.

After quick introductions, the judge elicited brief testimony as to why he wanted to adopt Noah and several questions were asked. The questions were all easy, frankly, and were just designed to demonstrate an understanding that adoption is a permanent, lifelong commitment, and that both he and Liv would be equally responsible for the child if their marriage should end.

"Noah, do you approve?"

"Uh-huh," the young boy said with an enthusiastic nod. "I love him."

"I love you too, Noah," he said, giving the boy a small smile.

"That's really good to hear." The judge, smiling softly, glanced at her documents, and then Rafael. "Counsellor Barba, are you willing to raise this child as your lawful child?"

"Yes."

"This child will inherit from you," the judge said, "he will be treated no differently from a biological child. Do you agree?"

"Yes, Your Honour."

Smiling, the judge put one last signature on the documents before her. Facing them again, she pushed the adoption papers to Noah along with the gavel. "Noah, I'm going to ask you if you would officially approve the adoption." When the young boy nodded, the judge handed him the gavel.

Langan looked at the judge. "Thank you, Your Honour."

The judge nodded, and gestured for Noah to proceed. The young boy picked it up, smiling widely. "I officially say, 'yes!'" With no hesitation, the young boy hit the adoption papers with the gavel.

The judge then invited them to take a picture together which they did with no hesitation.

"Congratulations, Olivia," Langan said. He glanced at Rafael. "And to you as well, Barba."

"I know for some of us here it's been a very trying year," Judge Linden said. "But, in saying that, congratulations." She looked at all three of them, her eyes finally settling on Rafael. "All the best to you and your family."

Rafael and Noah were both grinning stupidly. "Thank you," he said, shaking the judge's hand.

Noah pulled him into a hug, grinning. "Now you're stuck with me."

He laughed, ruffling Noah's hair. "And I wouldn't have it any other way, Mijo."


	54. Chapter 54

Needless to say, the next day was as riveting as expected. Rafael had had trial prep and spent a lot of time on the phone as usual, but it actually ended up being one of his less busy days lately, which was a blessing. Neither of them was a fan of the event they had been forced to attend that night, however. They'd stayed there for two hours, making the rounds, before they felt they'd been there an acceptable length of time.

Dodds had offered drinks, but, thankfully, Dodds didn't argue with the 'there's a babysitter getting paid by the hour' excuse. It was true but had definitely been way more of an excuse than anything.

Things had been hectic since the event though, as it turned out that Nikki Staines was raped after the event. Rafael had passed that case off to his senior ADA, due to his own heavy caseload, but had been kept in the loop, nonetheless.

The case was a mess, so he was watching it carefully. Staines was all sorts of paranoid and apparently she kept really good records of things on her phone, which had been lost. Information. Blackmail. You name it.

Both Rollins and Olivia had trusted their instincts when they were directed to the lawyer, Rob Miller, for help. They'd all met Rob the night before, and Rafael had met the man once or twice previously. Miller had a massive sense of false charm and basically had Chief Dodds eating out of the palm of his hand. _Rob is one of the people who really runs this town._

The man had flirted with Olivia and, slightly with Rollins. This led to Olivia deciding to agree to go for a drink with the man, in order to get dirt on him. Rafael hadn't been entirely comfortable with the fishing expedition but had been even more irritated when it became clear the Miller knew he was being played by Liv. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt and after that and another lead they'd gotten enough to be able to take him into custody. Rafael doubted they'd get the indictment, unfortunately.

The man had also gotten Liv pulled over, with Noah in the car, and basically caused a massive scene. When they finally got enough to bring him in, at least temporarily, Rafael was relieved. She'd apparently made herself quite the enemy.

He'd also taken to getting some more driving practice in on the weekends and they were looking at buying a second car. He'd gotten his licence when he was younger and kept it current, although, he hadn't really needed it in New York City. He really did need to get back into practice before he was comfortable, in any case.

His mother, in particular, had been over the moon to find out that everything was now official with Noah. They'd also called his family back in Cuba; all of whom were quite happy for him. The entire squad had been extremely supportive as well, although Fin made sure to tease Rafael some. Rafael quickly pointed out that Fin of all people was already a grandpa so the old man could share his wisdom.

Based on everyone's reactions to the comment, Fin's included, Rafael definitely won that round. Simple pleasures.

Speaking of simple pleasures, Noah had another baseball game. The last one of the season. Rafael ended up being a bit late, missing the warm up, but had got there in the nick of time to watch the game and cheer Noah on. He'd been worried he was going to miss it, because a Defence Attorney has tried to reschedule a meeting, and he hadn't wanted to do that to Noah so put up a bit of a fight. He was pushing it close, though.

Still, the smile on Noah's face when he took a seat beside Liv was worth it.

In other news, over the following week, he only had one problem with Collins and, after writing out extensive notes for him to reference and giving the guy a legal glossary, he seemed to take the hint and was a lot less problematic. Why EADA Lee had hired him... oh, well. He'd just have to deal with the mess.

Thankfully, Rafael's first hire, although coming with little actual experience, was more studious and had a firm grasp that Collins just couldn't quite manage. Was he perfect? No. However, the initiative was night and day. When Summers didn't know something, Summers damn well didn't act and looked it up immediately, taking the initiative and retained the information, also taking notes like no other. Overall, Summers was much much easier to manage.

He'd hired another new ADA as well, who started two days ago. He hadn't seen enough to make a decision about Brooks yet, though. She was doing alright, he supposed, but she seemed to be struggling with the sheer amount of paperwork. He figured organization was the problem more or less and every ADA ever went through that. It took time to learn the organization and time management skills needed to keep most of your sanity.

She'd probably be fine, before long. She likely just needed a little more time to adjust. Their being in Sex Crimes also meant that cases sometimes hit a lot closer to home for some women, so he'd definitely give her an adjustment period before deciding what his next move was regarding her.

He'd also been able to convince Novak to come back on a limited basis after a rather animated phone call that morning. She'd only be taking on an exceptionally small caseload, but it was something, at least. She had other commitments. The benefit, however, was that she had years of experience and could take some of the more interesting cases off his new hires' hands.

Happy that within a few more weeks the dust would be settled, he now found himself responding to work emails and going through several reports.

His phone rang and Liv's picture showed up on the screen.

"Hi, Liv."

"Somebody sounds cheerful."

"And I have no doubt you're about to make my day all that much better," he quipped, knowing full well it was probably a nasty case.

"Naturally," she replied, not missing a beat. "Can you come down to the station?"

"I'll be there soon."

"Ok. See you soon."

As suspected, he walked into a mess.

"No offence," Fin said, "but we'd prefer you take this case than your new hires."

He snorted. "I wouldn't let you give it to them."

Olivia laughed. "He's still our main go-to, Fin. You know he'll tell us when he has to tap out on a case because of a too heavy caseload."

"Just keep giving away the boring ones and we'll be fine," he said, smirking. His current caseload was only lighter by a case or two, at the most, just to give him a little more wiggle room for other meetings and such. It was his comfort level, though. Most prosecutors worked easily anywhere from ten to thirty hours of overtime, on a regular basis. He'd pulled closer to thirty hours more than he'd like, even having done forty at some points. He'd definitely taken on heavier caseloads in the past. He was trying to keep the caseload closer to the ten-hours range when possible. With his extra responsibilities to bump that up, his usual hours didn't change a whole lot now, given his average was definitely closer to twenty on a good week.

He gestured for the detectives to finish filling him in and he took a moment, considered what to do.

A longtime USA Gymnastics(USAG) national team doctor Michael Dion had just been named in not one but six separate complaints filed by athletes - primarily minors— who said that Dion engaged in sexual abuse under the pretense of providing medical treatment. One had just come forward, another had two years previously, but dropped the charges in Brooklyn. As for the others, well, once that damn broke, they'd apparently felt comfortable enough to come forward. That concerned him slightly. He'd seen group accusations like this before.

The People v. Wilkins immediately came to mind. Rafael had been horrified to know he'd been played and had taken so long to see it. Shakir's career and reputation had effectively been shattered for no other reason than his race. As someone who himself had had to fight to prove himself due to his race, he'd been furious he'd been used like that. He'd been particularly revolted when the one woman implied he was complicit and needed to pay up.

Unfortunately, their current original victim had been more than a bit elusive. They didn't have a current address or anything for her. She'd just turned eighteen at the time.

He glanced at Rollins and Olivia. "Are they all credible?"

"I don't see this being a cash-grab," Olivia said.

"Neither do I," Rollins said. "They all seem like good girls and given the first vic's testimony -"

He nodded, looking at Liv. "We need to talk to the original prosecutor and find out why charges were dropped by Miss Johnstone and if they can get us in contact with her. I would also like a copy of the original video testimony." If the original victim's story reinforced the others it would help establish guilt.

The lieutenant nodded. "I'll get a name for you. The file's in my office."

"Good," he said, watching as the lieutenant walked away. "As for the rest of you, exercise due diligence. I need this vetted thoroughly. I have a bad feeling we're about to open up a Manor Hill Academy sized can of worms."

Rollins looked at him. "You've got a bad feeling too?"

He met the detective's eyes. "From the moment Liv opened her mouth." He tapped a finger on Rollins' desk. "Carisi, get me all video or written transcripts from today. I need to go over them."

"On it, Counsellor," Carisi chirped.

With that settled, he made his way to Liv's office. It was going to be a long day.


	55. Chapter 55

He was right, it had been a long day. And it hadn't gotten easier. He'd been less than thrilled to find out that his original victim had apparently committed suicide sometime back after having moved back to her home town. It also appeared that she may have been harassed into dropping the charges originally, although the prosecutor hadn't been able to prove it.

Thankfully, the prosecutor, was more than willing to help, however, and handed over everything she had on the case over, wishing him better luck than she herself had had.

On top of that, they'd managed to find another victim and witness. It was looking more and more like all these accusations were credible. He was still having everything looked through with a fine-tooth comb, however. All he needed was one false accusation to destroy the case for the real victims. He hoped that wasn't something he'd have to deal with here.

Of course, the organization was being less than helpful, although they were, surprisingly, not being as difficult as they could have been.

Unfortunately, Hate Crimes had a nasty case on their hands and had for a month and a half, although it had just become public knowledge much more recently as the indictment hadn't come down all that long ago and as such it had been kept largely out of the media up until that point with only one rather vague mention way back in the Times. At least, he woke up to some good news this morning, though.

**D.A. McCoy Announces Hate Crime Conviction in Union Square Subway Attack**

_Manhattan District Attorney Jack McCoy today announced the trial conviction of Andrew Hornell, 38, for attacking two men on the platform of the Union Square subway station after making derogatory statements about Cuban-Americans. A New York State Supreme Court jury found the defendant guilty of Assault in the Second and Third Degrees as Hate Crimes and Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree. A date for sentencing has yet to be set._

_"This defendant's crime was more than a violation of our laws – it was a violation of our New York values," said District Attorney McCoy. "As a jury has now determined, Andrew Hornell targeted two New Yorkers on the basis of their heritage in a vicious assault fueled by hatred and prejudice. Now, he will be held accountable for this unprovoked and potentially deadly hate crime assault."_

_"I would like to commend the victims and witnesses for their bravery in coming forward and for their cooperation in bringing this defendant to justice. If you've been a victim of a hate crime, you can report it to my office's Hate Crimes hotline, regardless of your language or immigration status. Don't hesitate to come forward."_

The rest of the article was a recap of what exactly had happened during the attack, most of which had already become public knowledge.

Damn if seeing and hearing things like that wasn't frustrating, though. Especially given what had transpired at the park just the other day when he was picking Noah up from school on his last day before summer vacation started.

One father had colourfully pointed out that Noah 'blessedly' looked nothing like him and implied that Liv was obviously cheating on him. He'd made a subtle remark or two before that which had made it clear after that conversation that the man was more than a little racist.

Rafael had given a huffy response, not bothering to elucidate any, but basically telling the man to keep his trap shut. He didn't think the obnoxious man deserved an explanation in the slightest. Thankfully, Noah hadn't had to hear the unpleasantness.

He and Olivia talked about that Hornell case some, as she could see it was bothering him slightly. Then at one point she just looked at him and started chuckling.

He looked at her questioningly.

"Your argument with that immigration officer during the Yusef Massad mess," she explained, still laughing. "The officer tells you to get the hell out of there and your response is to say, _'Or what? You're gonna deport me to Cuba? You gonna take Carisi to Italy?'"_

A small smile touched his lips. She really did do a decent imitation of him, which just added to the ridiculousness of the situation they'd been in.

At the time, it had been horribly frustrating and still was. His response, in hindsight, had been amusing, though. Be that as it may, he had been deadly serious at the time.

"Let's be honest," he deadpanned, "I'd be down for a free vacation. Carisi too. We'd both be back in two weeks, anyway, and that's only because we'd refuse the same-day flight back on purpose. Need to take advantage of that free airfare. It's getting expensive these days."

Olivia just laughed even harder.

As for _People v. Dion_, everyone was working overtime and most nights Rafael was home well before Liv was. He and Noah had brought dinner down to the station for everyone again one night when Rafael managed to get his act together enough to be able to work from home, which meant several hours after the kid was asleep, little past eight o'clock, just drowning himself in paperwork and emails.

He'd had to go over a press release one of his ADAs was preparing to give the following day regarding the arrest of a middle school teacher. The indictment was expected to come down before lunch if things went smoothly.

It was half-past eleven when Liv finally came through the door, looking exhausted.

He gave her a tender kiss. "Long night?"

"I can't wait for this mess to be over."

"You and me both."

She kissed him. "Thanks again for dinner."

"Of course, Cariño!" he said. "One cannot live off of vending machine food alone."

She rolled her eyes. "Pot. Kettle. Black."

"Which is why I'm uniquely qualified to say it's a terrible idea."

"And yet Carmen still has to kick you out."

He shrugged. "Read ten of my reports and tell me you don't go on autopilot and are still paying attention to the time."

She winced slightly. "You win."

"How was Noah?"

"Fine," Rafael said. "Went to bed without a problem. I took him to the park for about a half-hour or so and let him watch some TV as his homework was done."

She looked at him fondly. "Why do I have a feeling ice cream was involved?"

He quirked an eyebrow "Maybe because it was an inferno outside?"

It had been 87 degrees outside earlier, which was honestly the sort of weather Rafael loved. It was also a perfect excuse for an icy treat. And Noah had been roasting. It was the perfect time to buy a cone.

He had made sure to bring lots of water and ensure that Noah had a healthy amount of sunscreen on as well as had a hat on.

"Fair enough," she said with a laugh.

"Given the heat," he said, eyes sparkling as he kissed her, "how about we get you out of those work clothes, Lieutenant?"

"I might be persuaded, Counsellor," she said with a grin, "but only if we do away with yours as well."

"Hmmm." He kissed her neck. "I do believe that's a deal I'd be more than pleased to accept."


	56. Chapter 56

As the investigation into Michael Dion continued, it hadn't taken Rafael long before he had Carisi hinting to two staff members - with whom Dion worked the closest - that Rafael was considering conspiracy charges. That ended up loosening one of the men's tongues some and Rafael had been able to quickly offer immunity in exchange for testimony against Dion, sealing, even more, witness testimony.

They'd just finished _voir dire_ yesterday, and Rafael was feeling fairly content with the jury they'd finally selected. This particular round of jury selections had felt particularly tedious, and he was glad it was over. Now for him to make time to work more closely with his key witnesses on trial prep.

He just hoped that Counsellor Granick wouldn't cause too many problems. He'd only ever gone up against the man a handful of times, and the man was interesting, to say the least. Judge Schreiber was overseeing the trial, however, so he had little concerns in that regard. He was quite a reasonable and fair judge.

Besides that new development, the investigation had rather slowed down, mercifully, allowing a bit more attention to be given to other cases as well. That, and the newer ADAs now needed a lot less support and Novak had taken on four smaller cases herself. With the extra hands on deck, and him learning how to better juggle all the new responsibilities, he now felt like he could breathe. He'd been so stressed out initially, wanting to prove he could do the job.

He and Olivia had also been asked if they would be interested in holding another conference, which both were very seriously considering. Since the first one, they'd been able to get an additional four kits tested. Six previously untested kits, in total, were now tested. It was barely a dent, but it was a start.

On a good note, both himself and Liv were back to getting home at a more reasonable time again, which meant they'd been able to take Noah out to eat at Follia last night, after work, where the kid ordered, you guessed it, Spaghetti; the little addict.

As much as he was more adventurous, clearly some things never changed.

It had been quite an enjoyable evening, honestly.

He'd gotten called into the office briefly Saturday morning, but had been done by eleven. He'd then been able to spend the rest of the day with his family at Coney Island where they went on more than a few rides before relaxing at the beach and Olivia decided it was most definitely an order-in night. Rafael had managed to persuade Noah to let them get Chinese food and not pizza, though.

Lucy had then watched Noah while they'd gone to see a reading of Galileo at the Public, which both of them had thoroughly enjoyed. They were planning on getting tickets again for the annual summer readings festival.

The score was great and the lead man, Raúl Esparza, had clearly been enjoying himself, more than a little animated. That attitude had been contagious, and the entire atmosphere had been enjoyable.

Olivia liked that it was less stuffy than Company and the atmosphere of a play and a reading were different enough as it was.

"That pride shirt of Esparza's from earlier was adorable," Liv said. The actor had worn a pink shirt with a rainbow heart while he was mingling with fans before the show.

"One way to make a statement," he said.

"You know, he kind of looks like you," Liv remarked.

He shrugged. "I don't see it."

Sunday had been a much calmer day, in some respects. They had his mother, the Garcias, Tía Claudia, Carmen, Rita, Melinda, and the rest of the squad over for a BBQ lunch, and Olivia had put up a small pool for the kids to cool off in.

His aunt had come down from Miami for a few days and was staying with his mother.

Rafael had apparently been given barbecue duty, which he didn't mind. The lamb chops ended up turning out quite well, in his own opinion, and cheeseburgers weren't exactly overly complicated.

What did catch him off guard was when Carisi actually leaned in and kissed Rollins.

"So, Staten Island," he said, "you finally decided to ask?"

Rollins laughed. "More like I stopped rejecting him."

"Thank God," Carisi said, grinning.

"I relate, man," Rafael said, amused. "I asked Liv out three or four times, at least, over the years. Although, my timing sucked and, in hindsight, I'm not sure how clear I made my intentions."

"What can I say," Olivia said, "distance makes the heart grow fonder." That comment was accompanied by a very dramatic eye roll from Rafael. "I'm happy for you both. And don't worry. She -" Olivia gestured to Rita, "won't -"

Rita laughed. "_She_ is right here and knows how to keep a secret."

Carisi nodded. "Thank you, Calhoun."

The Defence Attorney nodded. "Of course."

His mother raised an eyebrow. "Something you'd like to share, Mijo?"

"No!" he said quickly, causing everyone to laugh.

His mother gave him a pointed look. "Rafael."

"Why do you always think I did something, Mami?"

His mother quirked an eyebrow, amused. "I know you."

Rita looked at him. "I told you I wasn't covering for you, Numbnuts." She turned to face his mother. "I caught this dumbass in bed with a certain lieutenant at six o'clock in the morning when he'd only been back for a day or so."

His mother smirked. "And Rafi asked you not to tell me before he could."

"I don't have a death wish," he muttered.

"No, Hermano," Eddie said, "you just have a suicidal streak."

Rafael rolled his eyes, and his mother chuckled. "He never did tell me on his own terms. I caught him red-handed as well when he forgot we'd made plans for breakfast. Isn't that right, Mijo?"

"Sí, Mami," he said, cheeks turning red.

"That's perfect, absolutely perfect," Rita said, laughing.

His aunt didn't bother trying to hold back a laugh either. "You really have bad timing, mi sobrino." She shook her head, amused. "Dos veces. Really?"

"Tía."

"Well," his aunt retorted, oozing mirth, "honestly."

"Tía!" It came out as a whine.

Melinda, who had been watching the interaction in quiet amusement, spoke up and gestured towards him and his family. "So much makes more sense now."

"I know, right?" Carmen said. "He's his own telenovela."

He glared. "I hate you all."

"Except us kids!" Noah called out, apparently also amused by his father's situation. "We're being good."

"I second that, Tío!" Sebastián called out, snickering.

"Me three, Uncle Rafa!" Jesse chimed in. "And Mommy says whining's bad."

Olivia spat her drink out and Rollins bit her lip, body shaking with laughter.

Fin looked right at him. "Out of the mouth of babes."

He chuckled, despite himself. "I'll keep that in mind!" He looked at the new couple. "I'm happy for you both, really."

"Thank you," Rollins said, as Carisi was still snickering. She looked at Carisi fondly. "He's been my rock for a long time. Even while I was still with Al. It just took me a while to wake up and realize it."

"I'll tell you what I told Barba, Carisi," Fin said. "Don't fuck this up. I am happy for you both, though."

"Thanks, Fin!" Rollins said with a grin, as Carisi stuttered a reply.

It was amusing seeing the detective flustered. He took pity on him, though. "So, who's still hungry?"

His ears were immediately met with a sea of cries from the children, all asking for seconds and if there was going to be dessert.


	57. Chapter 57

"Well said, Ms. Taylor, but don't let that anger come through on the stand," he warned, "it's like handing Defence Counsel a polished sword."

"Got it," the witness said. "I'll remember to keep calm."

"Good," he said, "then I think we're done for the day."

As Ms. Taylor stepped down from the stand, there was some small talk while she waited for her boyfriend to escort her out.

Once she was gone, he headed towards his office, being stopped by Liv.

"How do you manage to find the time?" he asked with a slight snort.

"A magician never reveals her secrets," Liv quipped, passing him a coffee. "How did prep go?"

"So far I have little concerns," he said. "Oddly, that scares me more than if there was an issue."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Waiting for the other shoe to drop, I suppose."

"Just relax," Olivia said. "The chaos'll come soon enough." He gave her a small smile. "It's not time to worry yet."

"If memory serves," he said, understanding the reference, "Harper Lee also said, 'Things are always better in the morning.'"

Liv nodded, smiling softly. "That she did."

"Do you have time for a quick lunch?"

"I can make time," she said, squeezing his hand.

It had taken them no time at all for them to be at the Corte Café, seated, and having their food arrive.

They chatted some about lighter topics before Liv caught his attention.

"Do you remember when we talked about how we come in after the fact and I asked what good we really do?"

He looked at her quizzically. "Yes. I told you we prevent the next mess."

_Noah had gone missing and he'd found himself in Liv's office for the second or third time that day._

_She was sitting at her desk, clearly distressed, looking at him. "_ _You know what the problem is with this job? What good do we really do? I mean, we come in after the fact with a broom and a mop and we clean up the mess. What would really matter, or would really be special is if, just one time, we could prevent it from hitting the floor."_

_He'd felt the same way numerous times, especially earlier in his career. Still, he needed to comfort her somehow. That had never been his strong suit. When she'd broken down earlier his heart had hurt and he'd been at such a loss with how to help. Owing it to her to at least try, he said, "We prevent the next mess."_

_As conciliation prizes went, it wasn't great, but it was true._

She nodded. "What if we could do more?"

"How do you mean?"

"We already agreed to do a second conference," she pointed out. "What if we actually started something? Did it on a larger scale?"

"Like an organization?"

"Maybe."

He sighed, considering the situation. "That would be a lot of work to put together."

"I know," she said. "We'd need a board, we'd need -" Her voice trailed off as she listed several other crucial things. She looked at him and spoke more firmly this time. "I know we can make it work."

He met her eyes. "If you want to do this, I'll be right here, in your corner." He squeezed her hand. "Are you sure?"

"Definitely."

"Then I'll make a call to get some paperwork," he said with a smile. "I have a Harvard friend-of-sorts who works in corporate. You just think of a name and we'll discuss more specifics and make a better plan tonight."

She grinned. "Thank you."

He shook his head and kissed her. "I'll always support you, Cariño."

After lunch, he went to speak to several ADAs about their cases in person before calling McCoy with an update.

He then checked in with SVU to see if there were any new updates on his personal cases and went back to his office to get through as much paperwork as possible.

Granick had already moved to modify bail which had, thankfully, been rejected. Not that it stopped the accused from successfully paying, but it was more the principle of the thing.

It didn't help that Buchanan had started his own paperwork and motions war with Rafael. He'd taken on a bad case another prosector had to recuse himself from for medical reasons and had been placed on stress leave. It had been an active case for little under a year and now he had exactly a week before the trial had to have already started or he had to drop the case due to the statute of limitations.

He'd managed to successfully beg and plead for a trial date, however, and had been given one quickly. Buchanan was trying to keep him out of the courtroom still, obviously, and make it so he had to dismiss the indictment. Fat chance of that happening if Rafael had any say.

Thankfully, the previous prosecutor sat and discussed everything he knew and the witness and victim had been more than cooperative as well.

That made the situation marginally easier, even though it didn't stop the migraine he'd had the last few days. The insane overtime was worth it, though. Still, he was determined to be home at least once this week.

He glanced at the time, sighing, and replied to a work e-mail for delving back into the stack of work in front of him.

Around four-thirty he was called and asked to go down to the precinct where he watched an interview that he felt ended up being a waste of time and ended up telling Olivia as much. The reality was they'd gained not one useful thing from that interview except for a hunch or two that the squad would now need to actually prove and find absolutely any proof for or against before it was remotely useful. He worked with facts and law, not hunches.

After that, and wishing them luck on their little expedition, he went back to his office to get more work done.

Eventually, Carmen came in to say she was going home and gave him a pointed look.

He rolled his eyes. "I won't stay too late."

"An hour," she retorted. "I'll call and you better pick up that phone. Don't make me stick security on you, hmmm."

"I already intended to go home for dinner."

"Good," she smiled. "Go spend time with your family."

After she was gone, he delved back into his work, setting an alarm on his phone. At six he packed up several files, closed his office, and headed home.

Liv was clearly cooking, and he could hear Lucy still chatting. Peaking into Noah's room revealed the boy playing rather animatedly.

Amused, he put his files in his office and locked the door.

He then said a quick hello, chatting with Noah about his day before going to interrupt the two woman in his kitchen.

He greeted Lucy before pulling Olivia into a kiss. "Mmm, whatever you're making smells good."

"Chicken Parmesan and Caesar Salad," she said. "Lucy helped some."

"I'm sure it'll be great," he grinned. He turned to Lucy. "How was he?"

"It's Noah," Lucy replied with a soft chuckle. "He obviously caused unforeseen amounts of chaos."

Both himself and Liv laughed. "Well, he and Eddie already have a defence attorney, so that clearly means it's all premeditated." Liv glanced at him and pointed a finger directly at his chest. "I blame him."

"Hey," he said, looking quite serious, "I told you I never trusted that elephant. Stealing all the ice cream; what monster does that?!"

"And yet you're their lawyer," Olivia said with a laugh.

He shook his head, feigning disappointment with himself. "Apparently, even I am capable of nepotism."

Laughter rang out from behind them and they turned to face Noah who had apparently been listening in. "You're all silly."

"Oh, are we now?"

"Yes," the young boy said, amused, "but I love you anyway."

"Thanks, Mijo," Rafael said, ruffling the boy's hair. He then spoke in a stage whisper. "Escúchame, we need to make sure Eddie behaves for a bit, though. Mama's catching onto us."

"I'll keep an eye out for him," Noah said in a stage whisper of his own, winking.

"I heard that!" Liv said with a laugh.

Rafael put on his best stern frown. "Now, Lieutenant, I do hope you're not breaking client-attorney privilege?"

Olivia shook her head, amused. "Never, Counsellor."

They all burst out laughing.

"You two are something else," Lucy said, giving Liv and Noah a hug. "I do have to go, though."

"You're more than welcome to stay for dinner," Liv offered.

"Appreciated," Lucy said, "but I actually have a date tonight."

"Enjoy yourself, buy call to let us know you're safe," he said, knowing full well Olivia was thinking the exact same thing. "Neither I or Liv care how late it is."

"I will," Lucy assured them before taking her leave.

Noah looked up at them. "Can we play a board game?"

"Dale! Sure, Mijo," he said, smiling down at the boy. "Go pick one we can play after dinner."

As Noah scurried off to the living room, Liv pulled him into a kiss.

"I'm surprised you're home for dinner tonight," she said once they pulled apart.

He kissed her forehead, pulling her into a hug. "Work can wait a few hours. I missed my family this week."

She rested her head in the crook of his neck. "We missed you too."


	58. Chapter 58

The case against Michael Dion was one case that Rafael wanted over already. Things were in some ways proceeding nicely, but the defence was doing exceedingly well at undermining Rafael at every turn, which had just cost him a witness on the stand, and they'd turned. Rafael fought to keep his frustration in check as he tried to repair as much of the damage as possible during his cross and a redirect.

He'd been forced to treat the witness as hostile, though, and it had caused issues with a second witness, although he'd been able to smooth that one over nicely.

Still, he was slightly concerned.

He took a deep breath and started reforming his strategy.

Another irritating comment by the Defence.

"Move to strike," he said with a snort. "We're not here to listen to his psychobabble."

"Sorry. I'll rephrase," Defence Counsel said, taking the time to choose their next words very carefully. They were once again moving to undermine Rafael.

Unfortunately, Rafael was more than prepared, called for a redirect, and was feeling quite smug when he took his seat again.

Finally, their cross-examinations were done. The judge dismissed the court for lunch and then it would be time for closing arguments. After that, this mess would finally be in the hands of the jury.

"Well, that was brutal," Rollins stated.

"I'm calling it a draw," he said as Carisi led the way to a sandwich shop.

They were the only two police officers there as Fin and Olivia were out and about doing something for a case they had. He hadn't gone out of his way to ask for details. If it was pertinent, he'd be informed eventually.

"There's that optimism of yours," Carisi quipped.

"More like stubbornness," he retorted, taking a bite of his sandwich.

Carisi chuckled softly. "Fair enough."

This case seemed to have caught a bad case of the flees and although he was confident he had a more than strong enough argument and case to make the jury realize the defendant was guilty, it would be a relief when it was over.

Before long Rafael was needed back at the courthouse and it was time to proceed with closing-arguments.

"Do you have a moment, Counsellor?"

"We have closing-arguments in ten, Granick," he said. "Now, what do you want?"

"To talk deal," the other man said. "Three counts of sexual misconduct."

He laughed. "Misdemeanours? Pathetic. I'll take multiple counts of Rape Two, each sentence served concurrently. I also want an allocution."

Granick just looked at him. "I'll add on one count of indecent exposure."

He raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't born yesterday. Play again."

He currently was charging the defendant with three counts of Rape One and one count of Indecent Exposure. He was confident the charges would stick and the offer of misdemeanour charges just smelled bad.

The desperation Granick was clearly feeling pleased him, however. Even Granick felt Rafael had more of the jury swayed.

Counsellor Granick shook his head. "Barba, this entire fishing expedition is a joke."

He smirked. "Agree to disagree. Your guy's going to do some hard time. No jury will believe he's innocent." He patted the man on the back. "Give me a better offer, and spare us both the humiliation."

"One of your so-called witnesses makes a habit out of sleeping around," Granick sneered. "This case should be thrown out."

He kept a neutral expression, shrugging slightly. "Nothing wrong with consensual sex. Hell, you could be a prostitute and I couldn't care less. Rape is rape."

"Barba -"

He smirked at the other man, taking his leave. "I'll see you in court."

Closing-arguments still didn't go as well as he would have liked. He'd had to change directions rather drastically from what he'd had planned, but he felt he'd been able to react to Granick's shift in argument quite well.

He could tell that Granick likely got another one of the male jurors on his side but wasn't too concerned yet. He had had a strong case and argument, and a lot of the jury would likely see that.

Finally, it was time for jury deliberation.

He spent the next several hours in his office, getting some paperwork done, making calls, and answering emails, going over things and generally getting as much work as possible done while he waited and waited.

Eventually, after getting a call saying the jury was dismissed for dinner, he made his way down to Forlini's for a bite to eat. He'd already made it halfway through his meal when Liv managed to make an appearance.

She ordered something for herself to eat and they moved to a booth where they sat and talked for a while before it was time for him to head back to his office to do some more waiting.

She walked him back to his office and pulled him into a deep kiss before saying goodbye. "Love you, Rafa."

"Love you too, Cariño," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

He sighed as the door closed behind her, going back to the mountain of work waiting for him.

By half-past-seven, he'd made a huge dent in his work and was getting a bit antsy. He really wanted to be at home with his family and not stuck here with paperwork yet again.

He pulled out his almost-completed sudoku book and started doing that and then started texting Rita out of pure boredom.

Apparently, the text gave Rafael's state of mind away more than he'd thought it had.

_You drinking or am I talking to Rafael utterly-bored-out-of-my-mind Barba?_

_Do you even have to ask? I've been sitting on my ass since two._

_Take up knitting. I told you to get a hobby._

He snorted. _I'll take up knitting when hell freezes over._

_Sudoku?_

_Just finished the book._

_Poor you._

_Bring me a new one?_

_Why would I drive all over town to get one?_

_Please? I'll owe you one._

_I'll be there in a half-hour you neurotic mess._

_You wound me._

_You'll live._

It was nine o'clock when he was informed that the jury was dismissed for the evening and would be reconvening again in the morning. They still hadn't agreed on a verdict.

Sighing, he tidied his folders up some and ran down to catch a cab home.

Unfortunately, the verdict didn't come the following morning either.

"Three days; the jury's still out," he said, taking the file Olivia offered. He'd had to run down here to grab a file. He should have had someone bring it to his office but he'd somehow managed to get up-to-date with his work and, honestly, his back was killing him from all the sitting. It was the perfect excuse to get up and move a bit.

"Longer than the trial, huh?" Carisi said.

"And Granick's no doubt feeling super smug right now," he said matter-of-factly. "I turned down multiple deals that frankly were horrid."

"So?"

"The jury's deadlocked," he snorted. "Dion could walk."

"You're just antsy," the lieutenant countered. "He actually got cabin fever in his office." Her eyes were twinkling. "He texted Rita whining and got her to bring him a new Sudoku book."

"I can't believe she ratted me out," he said, unamused.

"It's cute," Liv said, snickering slightly.

He rolled his eyes, and went to reply but was interrupted by his phone vibrating.

He glanced at the screen and was quite pleased with what he saw.

"Finally. Jury's just in. They've reached a verdict."

"Good luck."

"Thanks," he said, running out of the precinct.

"Hold on, Counsellor!" Carisi called, quickly grabbing his keys. "I'll drive you."

He was exceedingly grateful for that offer because if he made the court wait he would definitely be in trouble. As it was, even with Carisi's help, he was going to cut it close.

Thankfully, Carisi knew a backway that was a bit of a shortcut. The blond detective didn't even bother parking. He just drove as close as he could and let Rafael run into the building before he searched for a parking spot.

"On the charges of rape in the first degree how do you find?"

"We find the defendant Michael Dion guilty on all counts."

Relief washed over him, and he shot Granick a self-satisfied look.

"On the sole count of Indecent Exposure, we find the defendant, Michael Dion, guilty."

Perfect.

The judged nodded. "Bailiff, take the defendant into custody."

He quickly gathered his things and walked over to where Carisi was waiting.

"Congratulations, Counsellor."

"Good jury," he said with a grin.


	59. Chapter 59

Walking into the precinct, he spotted Olivia and made his way over to her, glancing around the room. Once he reached her, he shook his head. "It's worse than it sounded on the phone."

He'd just been called in on what he knew to be a bad child trafficking ring that the police had discovered accidentally when a young girl showed up at the hospital clearly out of it.

The doctors had run some tests and they saw enough evidence to believe that someone had abused her only she refused to say one way or another. She did at least tell the cops her name - Delilah. She had apparently been with her 'Uncle Luke' and she admitted he wasn't a real uncle. He was more like a family friend that she claimed took care of her. She said that she had spent time with one of her uncle's friends and that they usually didn't hurt her. Delilah seemed to believe that her 'uncle' was taking care of her and that he wouldn't allow any of his friends to hurt her.

Unfortunately, the police knew better. They knew that Delilah was being brainwashed to believe this Luke cared about when he was actually pimping her out and couldn't care less what happened to her unless it resulted in something expensive like having to replace her. Delilah hadn't even known what the john's name was. She just remembered feeling fine until she wasn't and so the cops relied on the surveillance cameras. They found out their perp had taken a taxi to the hospital when he dumped Delilah and that the driver remembered the guy clearly. He knew he was white and middle-aged. He also remembered where he had picked up the guy and so the police were able to track him down.

His real name was Vince. He was a married businessman with two sons and had come to New York to specifically sleep with an underage teenage girl. Vince had heard about Luke's services and he was able to provide the detectives with everything they needed to know to trap Luke. Luke was approached by another "businessman" and he led Finn right back to his den. The girls there had all seemingly been staying out of their own free will and so there had just been one girl that looked like she was terrified. Luke had said that little girl was special and that he couldn't sell her just yet. The man had been finishing up his sales pitch about how Fin could do whatever he liked within reason to the girls when Fin identified himself as NYPD.

Fin and the others were able to quickly subdue Luke and without him around they went about identifying the girls.

He received a phone call not long after that.

He sighed. Seeing the group of young children all around the room being interviewed made his stomach start doing flips.

He shook his head. "I want whoever is behind this. Yesterday." He sighed, looking around again, squinting slightly. "They're all so young."

"Yeah," Liv said, the case evidentially hitting her hard as well. "And two of them escaped violent homes. Uh, another one was living with her demented grandmother and ran out of food. We're trying to get the details on the rest of the kids. You know, we're just trying to keep them comfortable until we can place them somewhere."

"Where'd your perp find them?"

"Uh, on the street. In a park. One was actually plucked from a playground," she explained. "He has a talent for spotting, uh, vulnerability."

"What hook does he have in them?"

"They think they're contributing to the household," she said. "He has them utterly manipulated. Except for one." She gestured to a young Hispanic girl who was with Rollins. The detective was attempting to converse with the child with what appeared to be little success.

"And I'm guessing that's why I'm here?" he said with an eyebrow.

"English skills are still being assessed," Olivia replied. "We could use your help in more than one way for this case."

He nodded. "Has she said anything?"

"She seems to understand basic things," the lieutenant replied. "She's afraid of the guy that we collared. And even more afraid of us. I'm hoping you'd have an easier time building rapport."

"The token Latino?"

"If you don't mind," she said with a sad smile. "But she also seems to not trust the police."

"Which I'm not."

"Exactly," she confirmed. "Then after, you need to meet Uncle Luke."

"I can't wait," he said with a sneer.

He took a deep breath, took off his jacket so he didn't look so formal, and put a smile on his face as he walked into the interview room. Rollins and Olivia were watching from outside, making sure the cameras were on.

"Hola, Nena," he said, calmly taking a seat in front of the scared child. "Mi nombre es Rafael." (Hi, Missy. My name's Rafael.)

"Hola," the little girl said quietly.

"Quieres más agua?" (Would you like some more water?)

She shook her head. "No gracias." (No, thank you.)

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Bueno, me gustaría hacerle algunas preguntas si está bien contigo." (So, I would like to ask you some questions if that's alright with you.)

"Supongo." She paused. "De dónde es usted?" (I suppose. Where are you from?)

"Nací aquí, en Nueva York, pero toda la familia es de Cuba. Soy Cubano-americano de primera generación." (I was born here, in New York, but the rest of my family is from Cuba. I'm first generation.)

She nodded, relaxing slightly.

"Ok," he said, giving her another small smile. "Entonces, tu nombre es Gabriela, eh? Cual es el apellido?" (Ok. So, your name is Gabriela, huh? What's your last name?)

"Sosa."

"Gabriela Sosa," he said pointedly. "Habla inglés?" (Do you speak English?)

"A little bit."

"Right. Who taught you? Los padres?"

"Sí, my mami."

"That's nice. Now, I understand you took a bus to New York? A la Autoridad Portuaria?" (To the Port Authority?)

"Yes."

"Yeah? Where did you take the bus from?"

"I don't like to go back."

"Ok. Por qué no quieres volver?" he inquired. "Was your family mean to you?"

"No."

"Si ellos estan... you can tell me," he assured the child. "You know I'm here to help you." He paused to give her a second. "Now, can you tell me where you live?"

"I want my mami."

"Ok, Nena," he said. "Tengo que irme para poder resolver esto, pero enviaré a alguien con quien puedas jugar mientras esperas." He was giving Rollins babysitting duty and didn't feel guilty in the slightest. "Estará bien." (Ok, Missy. I have to go so I can resolve this, but I'll send someone in that you can play with while you wait. It'll be ok.)

The young girl sniffled. "Okay."

Leaving the room, he explained he'd try talking to her later.

They then discussed the fact that two of the girls would be going to ACS and their local precincts, the other three were about to head back to their families.

The lieutenant then suggested they put Gabriela through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database, and in no time at all they found a missing persons alert from the New Jersey Department of Children and Families.

Apparently, the child had been in foster care when she ran away.

"Alright," Olivia said. "Carisi. Rollins. You two go talk to the foster family and see what their story is."

"We're on it, Lieu!" Carisi chirped in his usual fashion.

If they hoped that the meeting would help make things easier they were wrong. By all accounts, the Wellbecks were good people. They had agreed to become foster parents when they saw on the news how immigrant children were being forcibly separated from their parents at the border and so they had tried to make their house a home for Gabriela. Only, the little girl missed her mom. She refused to eat for a while and then when she did engage she worked up the courage to ask her foster brother how to get to Texas. He told her that she needed to catch a flight. He was a kid himself and hadn't thought she'd actually attempt it.

Nevertheless, Gabriela was found by a predator as she was trying to make it to Texas. The little girl thought if she could just get there that she would easily be reunited with her mother and so SVU had to be the ones to break the news. Well, him and Rollins. He got the girl ice cream before that conversation, as well, trying to keep the girl as relaxed as possible.

"Why la migra take her, Miss Amanda?"

"Because when your mother crossed the border, she broke the laws of our country."

"But what did I do?" It felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

"You didn't do anything wrong, sweetie."

"She's right," Rafael assured the girl. "No es tu culpa. Es justo? No. Pero no es tu culpa. Entiendes?" (It's not your fault. Is it fair? No. But it's not your fault. Do you understand?)

"Sí, entiendo." (Yes, I understand.)

Honestly, it had been more than a little heartbreaking. He was so glad that the conversation was finally over.

"So, what? What's gonna happen to her?" Rollins asked.

Liv shook her head. "We can't send her back to the Wellbecks."

"We're sure about that?" Rollins asked.

Fin looked at the blonde pointedly. "She'd just run away again, Amanda."

"Unfortunately," Rafael said, frowning, "the Sergeant's right."

"Look, guys," the lieutenant said, getting to her feet, "we have an obligation to notify the Office of Refugee Resettlement and let them know that we have her here."

"Also true," Rafael said with a sigh.

"They'll send her to one of their tender age centres," Fin said, clearly not happy with the prospect either.

"Barba," Rollins asked, "is there anything..? She's a nine-year-old child who did nothing wrong."

"Except enter this country illegally with her mother," Rafael said with a frown.

"So you concede with them?"

"For the purpose of this argument, hashing out ideas, I would," he said. "The mother technically committed a misdemeanour." He put his hand up to stop the interruptions he knew were coming. "That doesn't give the government the right to forcibly separate her from her parents, though."

"And their legal argument is...?" Olivia asked.

"They can point to Flores v. Reno and claim we can't keep them together," he replied easily.

Liv shook her head. "It says we can't incarcerate them together."

"Splitting legal hairs, Liv," he said with a snort. "And there is other legal precedent as well. And with the Supremacy Clause..."

"Article Six?" Liv asked.

"Exactly," he said with a frown. He sighed. "We're in for an uphill battle. While the court might find the separation of Gabriela Sosa and her mother is disturbing and ill-advised, it's tangential to the issue raised by the writ. Almost any judge will hold that federal immigration policy overrides any claim by the state."

Olivia just looked at him, exasperated. The room then briefly fell silent before Rollins spoke up. "I'll take her."

Olivia's eyes went wide. "Rollins, you -"

"Let me stop you there," the blonde detective said, "you took Noah."

"I did," Liv agreed, "and this is very different."

"Not much," Rollins said.

"Could you remember... could you remember Esther for just a moment." He was going to have to ask Liv about that comment at a later date, but could tell Rollins was obviously distressed over it.

Olivia sighed. "Amanda..."

He licked his lips. "We could take her temporarily, Liv. We have space and money. Communication wouldn't be an issue, and it would keep her out of the youth centre while we work to resolve this mess. She relaxed immediately when she realized I was Latino as well, which might be the only thing that keeps her from taking off again."

She ran her fingers through her hair. "I'll discuss it with Refugee Resettlement."

He nodded and the door creaked behind him. Turning around, he saw Carisi popping his head in. "Tracked down Maria Sosa's immigration lawyer. She's at La Tuna Federal Detention Center now. He's on his way there right now and he said he's pretty sure he can set up a video call with Maria."

"Good," Rafael said, pleased they at least could get that with little struggle. "Good."

Feeling frustrated, but knowing there was little else he could do, he pulled out his phone and started replying to work emails and a couple missed calls.

An hour and a half later they finally managed to get the call going. Hopefully, they could get something useful out of the conversation.

"We go through Guatemala because my neighbour was killed by La Mara," the woman explained. "He saw them kill a man. So they drag him into the street and shoot him. I get money from my family and take Gabriela with the coyote to Mexico. But he leave us at the border. Entonces, we have to cross alone. And I was arrested by La Migra. They put me in the jail and a man come and he take Gabriela. She was holding me and crying, and he just pulled her away." Her voice broke. "I can't get the sound of my baby calling for me out of my head."

Rafael shook his head. This was a horrid mess.

There was shuffling around and a man appeared on the screen. "Maria was arrested for illegal entry," the woman's immigration lawyer said. "I'm filing an asylum petition on her behalf. But the way things are going, it could be months if not years before everything's adjudicated. Until then, she's incarcerated here."

"Come," Liv said, gesturing in the little girl's direction.

"Gabriela, this way," Rafael said gently.

"Please, please," Maria pleaded.

The little girl stepped in front of the camera, tears starting to fall.

"Mami, soy yo." (Mommy, it's me.)

"Mi niña. Mi bebe," Maria said, crying now as well, "te extraño tanto!" (My little girl. My baby. I miss you so much!)

"Te extraño también, Mami." (I miss you too, Mommy.)

"Estás bien, mi niña?" (Are you ok, honey?)

"Sí, Mami," the girl managed to choke out, trying to comfort her mother.

"Okay, time to shut it down," came a guard's voice.

"Can we get two more minutes?" the immigration lawyer said, trying to get the prison guards to act somewhat compassionately.

"No, turn the camera away, ma'am," the guard said, "and terminate the call immediately."

"Adios, mi niña," the woman said, fighting to keep her voice calm for her daughter's sake. "Todo estará bien. Te amo." (Goodbye, Sweetheart. It'll be ok. I love you.)

"Mami, no." Gabriela's voice broke. "No, Mami."

"It's okay," Liv said, trying to comfort the crying child. "It's okay."

Once the young girl was calmer and occupied, he turned to his wife. "I hate this. I absolutely hate this." He wiped his face with his hand. "Es un delito menor. No es un delito grave. Cómo esto no se considera el abuso emocional y psicológico de un niño? Y la madre..." (It's a misdemeanour. Not a felony. How is this not considered emotional and psychological abuse of a child? And the mother...)

A child of Cuban immigrants and raised in el barrio, it came as no surprise to anyone that Rafael had a particularly bleak view of the current administration's flagrantly hostile attitude toward immigrants.

Liv let him rant knowing it was more for him than for her. He needed to get the frustration off his chest and he, frankly, wasn't even aware he'd switched languages.

Once he was done, she sighed. "Lo se, Rafa. Es ridículo." (I know, Rafa. it's ridiculous.)

"I think it's worse than loathsome," he stated, his tone increasingly agitated. "They're missing fundamentally what the concept of America is. This is a country founded on the idea that we can become anybody we want to be, no matter where we come from, no matter what class we're from, no matter what social station we're from, no matter how much money we have." She nodded. "My grandmother risked her life, and her children's lives, to come to this country, without knowing the language, without any clothes, without any money. They set foot here because they hoped that this place would take them in, and would protect them from the Communist system that had taken all of their freedoms. And they were able to build a life that they were happy with and proud of." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not saying don't screen people who want in," he continued, "but would it damn well kill them to exercise a little humanity at the same time?"

Olivia gave another nod of the head. "Believe me, Rafa. I agree."


	60. Chapter 60

"Así que ahora esta pobre niña está durmiendo en mi estudio en un colchón de aire hasta que este desastre se resuelva," he explained over coffee with his mother. "Eso podría llevar mucho tiempo, francamente. Quiero decir, los federales no lo van a hacer fácil." His frown deepened. "They wanted her housed at Fort Stirling." (So now this poor girl is sleeping in my study on an air mattress until this disaster is resolved. That could take a long time, frankly. I mean, the feds won't make it easy.)

"Es duro," his mother said. "She's what, ten?" (That's rough.)

He gave her a look. "Nine."

"Sabes, venir aquí a la edad de catorce años fue aterrador." She grabbed his hand and looked him in the eyes. "Fue difícil aprender el idioma y no conocer a nadie. Subiendo a ese avión y sin saber cuándo volvería a ver a la mayoría de la familia..." She smiled softly then. "Pero no tengo dudas de que son más fuertes de lo que les das crédito. Estarán bien. Incluso si lleva tiempo." (You know, coming here at the age of fourteen was terrifying. It was difficult to learn the language and not know anyone. Getting on that plane and not knowing when I would see most of the family again ... But I have no doubt that they are stronger than you give them credit for. They'll be fine. Even if it takes time.)

"Es una situación en que ambas partes perderán, Mami!" He sighed. "Hay cientos de otros niños encarcelados." (It's a lose-lose situation, Mami. There are thousands of other incarcerated children.)

"Lo sé," she said. "Acordarte lo que dijo tu abuela antes de irte a Harvard?" (I know. Do you recall what your grandmother told you before you went off to Harvard?)

He gave a curt nod, starting to realize where she was going with the conversation. "Sí. La pluma es mas poderosa que la espada." (Yes. The pen is mightier than the sword.)

Abuelita had given him a rather expensive pen, which he still used, while he was waiting for news on his acceptance or otherwise to Harvard. He'd tried to refuse the gift, citing it was too expensive, but she'd insisted, and told him to go fight for justice. His grandmother had always believed in him. Always.

"Exactamente," his mother said. "Lose the battle, win the war." She squeezed his hand. "No puedes salvar a todos, Mijo." (Exactly. You can't save everyone, Mijo.)

He took another sip of coffee, looking at her. "Yes, well, the tenacity I got from you clearly has something to say about that."

She laughed. "So, it's my fault, is it?"

"Entirely," he said, smirking slightly.

She smacked him gently in the back of the head. turning up the Celia Cruz song playing in the background. "Acordarte quién te dio el regalo de la vida." (Remember who gave you the gift of life.)

He chuckled. "Como podría olvidarlo?" (How could I forget?)

The conversation at his mother's ended up being just what Rafael needed. He found himself able to think more clearly and he just felt lighter somehow. He still wanted to get the best outcome for the young girl but his mother was right. One small battle at a time. It wasn't on him to fix this mess, especially not alone.

He and Olivia had also had a date set for their next conference and were slowly making progress on setting up the not-for-profit that Olivia had approached him about. His friend had been quite helpful and had given good advice, thankfully. They still hadn't settled on a name, however. Not that Rafael felt a particular need to rush things.

He and Olivia had been bickering more due to all the stress, but they'd been trying to work on things and the talk they themselves had the previous night seemed to have done both of them some good. That was a relief for him as he hated being at odds with her.

As for Gabriela, she was clearly struggling but seemed comfortable enough with him and his mother. She'd also started to warm up to Olivia and Noah as well and had grown quite fond of Rollins.

The girl was quite polite if somewhat reserved, which was understandable given the circumstances.

"Rafael Barba," the man said as he entered. He looked at Rafael, clearly pleased and yet surprised to see him. "It's certainly been a while."

"It has," Rafael agreed, wincing slightly. They'd not been in touch for seven or eight years and now, here he was, asking for a favour. They'd been good friends while he was at Harvard and after although life had gotten in the way and they'd gone their separate ways. "Sorry, Blaine."

The other man waved Rafael's concerns off. "Phones work two ways, Rafael. I could have called as well. Blaine looked Rafael up and down, eyes resting briefly on his hand. "I see congratulations are in order. Who's the lucky girl?"

"Thanks," he replied, smiling earnestly. "And her name is Olivia. She works for NYPD at Manhattan Special victims."

"The lieutenant?"

"One and the same," Rafael said with a smirk.

"Well, I'll be -" Blaine said. "And here I thought you were all work and no play. Still, you sure know how to pick them." The other man paused. "What can I do for you?"

"I need your help," Rafael said. "The detectives I work with, they liberated an undocumented nine-year-old from a sex trafficking ring. We're trying to reunite her with her mother."

"Mother's here in Albany?"

"Texas," he replied without preamble. "In federal detention for illegal entry."

"That's a little out of my jurisdiction, don't you think?"

"Come on, Blaine," he said in a slight pleading tone. "You have more connections inside the Beltway than Potomac Edison."

"This immigration stuff is getting tricky these days, to say the least."

And that was the crux of it. Things had been a nightmare lately. Gun violence was on the rise, and a mere couple of days ago, McCoy had publically called for Gun Kingpin Legislation in a Daily News Op-Ed, only for that article to be followed by a shooting in El Paso and another in Dayton, just days later.

Things were getting more and more heated and showed no sign of letting up any time soon.

"I'm not asking you to make policy here," he said. "I'm just asking for a hand. I'll do the heavy lifting and take any blame."

"It's one child, one parent," Blaine said, "and you really think this is gonna make a difference?"

He looked at the other man for a minute. "I had to fight; I had to fall, and I had to get hurt to be where I am." There was a glint of rapt attention in the other man's eyes. "Life... it can be hard. And things are scary right now." He took a step forward. "If we are not actively fighting against regressive ideologies, we are contributing to making them grow. I'm not asking you to win the war, Blaine, but I do need your help to win this battle. I need you in my corner here."

Blaine licked his lips. "The mother's grounds for asylum, they're solid?"

"From a purely subjective standpoint it's a bit weak," he said. "She really did fear for her life and her daughter, though. A neighbour of hers was killed by a gang."

Blaine sighed. "I'll see what I can do. No promises."

"Not asking for any," Rafael said. "Thank you, regardless of how it goes."

His phone rang. "We'll have to catch up sometime. I do have to go, however. Duty calls."

Whatever Blaine's reply was, Rafael didn't catch it. He answered his phone, taking his leave. Apparently, a new deal with one of his ADA's had been signed and he was updated on specifics. He then ran back to his office were he returned a couple more calls, played catch up on his stack of files, and replied to his work e-mails. He'd also been informed that Olivia's squad had caught a new Domestic Violence case so she'd be home a bit later that night.

When six o'clock rolled around he decided to call it a day. Satisfied with his progress, he headed home to relieve Lucy and make the two kids dinner. Thankfully, as he'd just bought a new car, he didn't need to wait for an Uber, and got home in no time at all. He already knew it was going to be a long night.


	61. Chapter 61

After talking with Blaine, the next twenty-four hours were basically radio silence as Blaine tried to play some cards. Finally, he heard back from his old friend and although things still weren't in the clear Blaine advised him on his asylum petition - which they'd already suspected they'd need even before that conversation.

Once he did that, it was another forty-eight hours and several rejections before he finally got some good news. Rafael had been granted a meeting with a Judge Connors who was willing to hear him out. That meeting had, blessedly, gone fairly well on most accounts and he was told he'd receive a call later during which he'd be informed of what the judge's decision was.

In between waiting for that call, Rafael was as busy as ever. They'd held yet another conference and had managed to get enough funding for another rape kit to be tested. Olivia had also settled on a name for their organization; _The Joyful Heart Foundation. _They'd even managed to get a good group of people on the board of directors, including one former Senior Policy Advisor - turned District Attorney - Chauncey Parker among others.

All in all, both of them were happy with the headway they were making in that regard.

Work had also been quite busy. There were a couple of ADA transfers - both in and out of Manhattan - and a rather large influx of cases, which meant Rafael had found himself seriously struggling to juggle his time correctly. If he didn't have Liv and Carmen, he had no idea what he'd do. Go insane, probably. He knew the D.A could see he was struggling slightly, but had calmly given Rafael a couple of tips and had been more supportive than anything. And it wasn't as though Rafael was doing poorly by any means. He knew his blood pressure was probably higher than it should be though, and he'd finally caved and dyed his hair; not being a fan of the more than a few grey hairs he'd gained.

Liv had also noticed Rafael squinting more and more and had pushed him to go to the eye doctors, despite Rafael's protests. The migraines he was getting just weren't worth it, so he finally obliged her. He already got bad migraines. They were getting even worse though, with the added tension from the lack of glasses. His medication was barely able to touch it. He was grouchier than usual, and the new medication the doctor gave him seemed to set his skin on fire to the point where it would be excruciating to be touched or bump against something - even lightly - for a while after taking it. He'd thrown the bottle out after taking the medication the third time and had switched back to his previous medication.

Rafael had been less than pleased to learn that, yes, he really did need glasses. He hadn't even noticed how bad his eyesight really had gotten until he did the eye exam. Still, he had refused to wear the glasses at work the first couple of days but eventually conceded to wearing them when he wasn't in court or dealing with the media. Then it just became normal and he accidentally found himself wearing them in court. Liv had glasses as well though, so at least he wasn't the only one in the house with them. The glasses did drastically minimize the migraines though, and they were back to being manageable and drastically less frequent.

Noah was finally old enough for day camps and they'd enrolled him in the Camp Lango program. Noah was loving it so far and he was doing different things such as crafts, music, yoga, dance as well as Scavenger hunts, one-legged races, and a variety of other fun outdoor activities. Noah also liked that the themes changed every week, and he'd asked to be enrolled longer than they'd initially planned. His Spanish had gotten incredible though, between speaking with Gabriela and then the camp being in Spanish.

Rafael's mother accompanied Noah to Brooklyn most days, as she was also off on summer vacation and both he and Liv worked. Gabriela ended up spending the day with Rafael's mother or, occasionally, Lucy, at the park or going swimming, although Gabriela had become good friends with one of his mother's neighbour's grandchildren.

In any case, life had been more than a little hectic lately.

His heart pounded as he picked up the phone, and his hand began to feel clammy against the phone case. "Judge Connors ." Liv immediately turned to watch what was going on. She heard vague murmuring from the other end. "Yes, of course, I have a moment." He mumbled something under his breath as he got up and made his way to the hallway where he'd have some privacy.

Judge Connors asked him a few more questions regarding Rafael's motivation and before long Rafael got the news he'd been hoping he'd get. He hadn't expected to get it but had been hopeful, regardless.

"I've decided to push your petition through."

He blinked. "Thank you, sir."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Mr. Barba," the man said.

"You don't get rights if you don't fight for them." That was something he'd always firmly believed. The plaque on his desk was a testament to that fact. _Better to fight for something than live for nothing._

There was a soft chuckle on the other end of the line. "You're certainly one of a kind, Mr. Barba."

He smirked, not caring that the man on the other end couldn't see him. "I've been called worse things. You know, us Latins come to this country, and within one generation, we're doctors, lawyers, CEOs of major corporations, but none of that ever makes the headlines. I hate this."

"Believe me, Mr. Barba," the judge said. "I'm on your side here. Go break the good news."

"Thank you again, sir," he said, before ending the call.

The ensuing conversation with Gabriela ended up with the little girl breaking down in tears, but Olivia managed to calm her down some and then Rafael was able to make arrangements for reuniting the mother and daughter.

Less then forty-eight hours later, the entire squad was standing outside the courthouse waiting for Maria Sosa to come out.

When Maria came out, both mother and daughter started crying.

"Mi niña. Mi amor."

"Mami," Gabriela croaked out as she gave her mother a hug. "Mami."

"Qué bueno verte, Mija," Maria said, kissing her daughter on the forehead. "Te extrañé tanto!"

Gabriela seemed lost for words, just repeating "Mami" again as she held firmly onto her mother as though scared her mother would vanish again. It was really hard to watch and Liv looked close to tears herself.

While the mother and daughter made up for all the lost time, Rollins got Rafael's attention.

"How in the world did you pull this off?"

"I called in some favours from a friend of sorts down in Albany. An old classmate from Harvard," Rafael explained. "He knew a judge. Anyway, I threw together the asylum petition and the friend helped me get one Judge Connors to push it through."

Carisi's eyes met his. "Well done then, Counsellor."

Maria came over, giving Rafael a quick peck on the cheek, surprising everyone. "Thank you, Abogado. Gracias."

"Estaba haciendo mi trabajo, señora No hay necesidad de agradecerme."

"Aún así, Sr. Barba, lo que hizo significa mucho," Maria said. "Y fuiste más allá del llamado del deber. Tú y tu esposa cuidaron a mi hija. Muchas gracias." (Still, Mr. Barba, what you did means a great deal. And you went beyond the call of duty. You and your wife took care of my daughter. Thank you so much.)

Making sure that the Sosas had living arrangements figured out and had a fighting chance to get back on their feet, Rafael slipt Maria both his and his mother's numbers, with instructions to call if they needed anything.

All of them heading back to work, Rafael worked until it was time to pick Noah up from a playdate at his friends for their father-son evening. It was the toy store, a pizzeria, and then off to the movie theatre for them.

As Noah giggled, sharing stories about his day and making small commentary about the film they watched, Rafael couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

He hoped that night meant half as much to Noah as it had him.


	62. Chapter 62

The three of them were sitting around the kitchen table, every inch covered by craft supplies except for the morning's newspaper and two books, one opened, that the adults were in the middle of reading. He'd been reading '_Wild' _by Cheryl Strayed earlier, before making breakfast and getting pulled into doing crafts with Noah.

His attention turned to the aforementioned paper and his eyes were drawn to one article in particular.

"Liv, can you pass me that?" he asked, turning away from helping Noah with his little project.

"Sure," she said, looking over her book to pass him the rag that he'd gestured to mere moments before. "New press release?"

"Yes," he immediately confirmed. "My ADA did well, but journalists have a way of keeping you on your toes."

"Fair enough," she said.

He felt a small hand tap him on the shoulder. "Papi, todavía quiero ayuda, por favor." (Papi, I still want help, please.)

He gestured for Noah to give him a second as he turned his attention to the article. "Te ayudaré en un momento, Mijo. Necesito leer esto. De acuerdo?" (I'll help you on a moment, Mijo. I need to read this. Okay?)

**Middle School Teacher Sentenced to Four Years in Prison**  
For Sexually Assaulting 14-Year-Old Student  
_Child was Assaulted on Seven Occasions in Classroom and School Bathroom_

_Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Troy Collins today announced that a 36-year-old former teacher at Lenox Preparatory School, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, has been sentenced to four years in prison following his guilty plea last month to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old student on multiple occasions._

_Executive ADA Rafael Barba said, "This defendant exploited his position of trust to prey on a young student, which is an unconscionable betrayal. Schools should be safe havens and parents must be able to feel that their children are being protected while attending class. I hope today's sentence brings some closure to the young student and his family and my office remains steadfast in our commitment to protecting our children."_

_The District Attorney identified the defendant as Ethan Cash, 32, of Greenwich Village. He was sentenced today by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edith Milbanks to four years in prison. The defendant pleaded guilty on July 12, 2019 to second-degree criminal sexual act, promoting a sexual performance of a child and related charges, before Justice Milbanks, in exchange for the promised sentence, over the objection of prosecutors, who had asked for five years in prison. The defendant faced up to seven years if convicted at trial._

_The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on seven occasions between November 19, 2018 and January 20, 2019, in Lenox Preparatory School, the defendant, who was then 31 years old, sexually assaulted a 14-year-old male student, in his classroom and in the school bathroom, including during school hours. The defendant also admitted to exchanging sexually explicit photos with the student._

_The defendant was arrested after the victim's mother found sexually explicit photos and text messages on his phone and confronted the child, who disclosed the abuse._

Liv looked at him. "That was handled well."

He smirked. "Thanks."

"So, Collins seems to have really improved."

"As usual, you're being far too polite, Liv," he said with a snort. "I must admit though, he's not as terrible as he used to be."

"High praise," she said with a chuckle.

He rolled his eyes. "It's not saying much. He really couldn't have gotten any worse." He turned to Noah. "Qué necesitabas, Mijo?"

Olivia turned her attention to the young boy as well. "How's your project coming, Sweet Boy?"

"Good. But how do you spell 'believe'?" Noah glanced from Liv to Rafael. "And Papi, puedes cortar más del contorno, por favor?"

"Claro," he said, ruffling the boy's hair. "Prometí que lo haría." Rafael quickly set to work cutting out some more of the pieces Noah had sketched out earlier for his outline.

Olivia looked at their son. "Now, as for the spelling, how about we sound it out?"

Noah nodded. "Okay."

The boy didn't take long to figure it out with minimum guidance from Olivia, and Rafael had to touch up a few crooked lines on Noah's sketched outline, but the project was slowing looking more and more like a pop-up book, much to Noah's contentment.

As for the rest of their Sunday afternoon, it went, fortunately, quite well. After Noah finished his craft, save for colouring, they played robots for a bit, before going to the Garcias. After coffee with Eddie, they went to the park. They'd then gone to his mother's for dinner, which had been nice.

Unfortunately, that night, Olivia got a work call for a domestic violence case, with a teenager and step-mother. Both parties argued it was a misunderstanding, but the kid seemed to be rather erratic, which made getting to the bottom of things more difficult than wanted.

Monday morning, Rafael stayed with Noah until Lucy arrived, and headed to the office to court to wrap up one of his cases with a cab driver who was being charged with sexual assault. He'd been feeling good about how the case was going until Defence Counsel blindsided him. Being blindsided by Maddox didn't surprise him, but he'd been dreading the jury verdict when deliberations began. He'd tried to argue that the admission was more prejudicial than probative, but Judge Peck sided with the defence, much to Rafael's irritation.

Olivia had been in his office, dropping off a file he requested when he'd got the call that the jury was in. Less than an hour later. He'd known before even stepping into the courtroom he wasn't going to like this.

He'd been right. He'd lost the case.

Needless to say, that had done wonderful things for his mood. Especially when one of his ADAs had just lost another fairly big case the previous day, and a Brooks had a defendant do a turncoat on a deal his office had agreed to. On top of that, several defence attorneys were giving him grief over his own caseload.

He'd been hoping to be able to just work for the rest of the afternoon from his office without any nasty surprises, but since when did Rafael's life ever go smoothly?

At around half-past-four, Rafael received a call from ADA Clark, saying he had finalized a deal, effectively closing the Simmons case, after quickly bringing Rafael back up to speed on the case. He'd managed to get mandatory phycological evaluations for the child, as well, which was perfect in Rafael's opinion; at least something had gone right.

When Carisi called him, just before six o'clock, to let him know they caught a nasty case he'd still had a bitter taste in his mouth from the earlier loss. Still, fuming internally, he'd listened to the brief explanation about the next case. It hadn't taken any time at all for him to make it clear he wanted himself called in as prosecutor for the case and nobody else. The case was going to be extremely sensitive for several reasons and he didn't want to hang any of his ADAs out to dry.

Two mothers, who lived in a two-storey townhouse, apparently had decided they wanted an evening out. Their regular babysitter was not available, so they called in someone new.

The mothers had allegedly told the babysitter that three children were upstairs and two others were downstairs. The babysitter was then allegedly told not to worry about the downstairs children and to focus on the three young ones upstairs.

After the mothers left, the babysitter checked on the children who were upstairs. She thought they looked malnourished and became alarmed.

At that point, she decided it was important to check on the children downstairs.

But a piece of furniture was blocking the downstairs door. The babysitter pushed it out of the way and entered a dark room.

Inside the room were two closed furniture boxes. A three-year-old girl was inside one of the boxes. Her six-year-old sister was inside the other box. The six-year-old was unconscious. The babysitter called 911.

Both girls were transported by ambulance to the hospital. The older girl was expected to remain in intensive care fighting for her life, and the doctors were more hopeful about the younger girl's condition. The two children had numerous broken bones and subsequent testing revealed the three-year-old had likely been eating her own hair as it was found in her stomach.

Feeling a bit sick to his stomach, he moved for a publication ban to protect the minors involved.

Once had got the approval, he checked the time, sighing.

It was going to be a long night for the squad, so, packing up his stuff, he went home, got Noah, and decided to make a quick dinner delivery. God knew that Olivia wouldn't be eating otherwise. She'd burn herself right out. An old habit he knew well.


	63. Chapter 63

When Olivia got home, she quietly went to check on Noah, needing to know he was safe and sound. She wasn't at the door to Noah's room alone long, however, before footsteps could be heard approaching.

Rafael put a hand on his wife's shoulder, appearing beside her.

"You didn't have to wait up, you know, Rafa."

"I wouldn't have gotten much rest anyway," he said, kissing her on the forehead. "And I wanted to see you, Liv." He paused. "Any news?"

"Not since dinner," she said with a sigh. Cases with children always hit the hardest and this case was no exception.

"Well, both girls have been stabilized and they lost custody of the other kids as well. That has to count for something."

"Yeah," she said, allowing herself to be led to the kitchen where Rafael started to pour both of them a drink.

She took the glass of wine offered to her and then gestured for Rafael to take a seat across from her. "Thanks again for earlier."

"No need to thank me," he said, giving her a small smile. "You know that, Liv."

She nodding, smiling at him. "I know, but still... So, how was Noah?"

"Good," Rafael said. "He wanted to wait up as well, but I said no."

"It's for the best," she agreed, taking a sip of wine. "What have you been doing then?"

"Oh, just chipping away at some work in my study," he said. "A preemptive strike." She chuckled. "After an hour or so of that, I read some. Almost finished the book, actually, and then I'll probably finish '_Crossing to Safety_.'"

"Yeah, you kind of neglected that for '_Wild_.'"

He chuckled softly. "A bad habit." It really was. He couldn't seem to just stick to one book. It wasn't uncommon for him to have two or three on the go.

"Let me know when you're finished," she requested, "so I can give it a read."

"Of course," he readily agreed. As a comfortable silence fell, he reached under the counter and pulled out a vase containing a gorgeous snow-white bouquet with hydrangea, Asiatic lilies, alstroemeria, and miniature carnations.

Olivia reached out to grab the small card accompanying the bouquet, grinning from ear to ear as she read it. And, as hoped for, she'd chuckled immediately upon reading his bad pun. '_I hope these ruin a perfectly bad day. Aloe you vera much, Liv.' _

While she read the card, he pulled out a box of her favourite brand of dark chocolate, still looking as suave as ever. "And a little sugar high never did anyone any harm." He winked. "But, we don't need to tell a certain young boy that."

She laughed, the day's stress forgotten. Even after all these months, he could still give her butterflies. "Rafa, thank you. The flowers, they're beautiful."

"I thought you deserved a little pretty after today," he said, squeezing her hand.

"You're amazing," she said. "I hope you know that?"

He grinned. "Yeah, well, you should know I'm married," he said in jest.

"Oh, really?" she inquired, amused.

"Yes," he quipped. "To an incredibly sexy, intelligent, witty, fiery, confident woman with a huge heart." He ran his fingers through her hair. "She's pretty damn amazing. You should meet her sometime."

She laughed. "Oh, yeah? Well, I'm pretty lucky. My husband is also pretty damn incredible himself."

He smirked and pulled her in for a deep, passionate kiss. As she put her hand around his neck, he thought it felt as though each of them was pouring all of their love for the other into it. Briefly coming up for air, he pulled her into a second kiss. He encircled her body with his arms, each hand resting its palm on each buttcheek. Gently but firmly he pulled her towards him, slightly grinding up against her, which she responded enthusiastically to.

He pushed up against her, a little more, guiding her gently towards his study, where they had a second couch, for more privacy, all the while both of them frantically moving to take off the other's clothes.

Life could get hard sometimes, but nothing felt more right than them at that moment. Damned if he was going to take her for granted for even a second.

With morning came another hectic day for both Rafael and Liv.

They got up, showered, he unloaded the dishwasher, and Liv made sure Noah was dressed. Once that was done, he made sure everyone had breakfast and helped himself to a second cup of coffee. Then he grabbed his files he'd brought home, kissed his wife and son goodbye, and ran out the door.

He'd had three different meetings in a row that morning alone. The most annoying of which was a lovely meeting with Chief Dodds and McCoy. Thankfully there were no real problems, but any meeting with Chief Dodds was a pain in the ass.

After that last meeting, he quickly returned a couple of work calls and replied to a few emails, before running down to a motion hearing for one of his cases which he'd requested, and then had trial prep immediately following that for one of his older cases that was just now finally going to court. Carisi had shown up while he was waiting for the victim to give him a quick update and a couple of the initial interrogations that he'd missed. He'd, thankfully, been given a quick run down because he didn't have time to watch the interrogation yet. The detective gave him all the major points though, so he knew largely what was going on.

Thankfully, the medical exam results of the other children had come back concerning but promising. Having been removed from the women's care, they were at very little risk healthwise now, and ACS was keeping a close eye on them and their foster homes. With that being said, even the 'lucky ones' were malnourished. Fortunately. The two who were found in the basement would likely be released from the hospital over the next few days, but the physical and psychological scars would probably be long-lasting.

He didn't have too long to chat with the detective, however, before the plaintiff arrived and he started on trial prep. That hadn't gone as well as he hoped, as she was a tad difficult and much too emotional, but it could have been worse.

He'd then had a half-hour break to return calls and reply to an e-mail or two before he had trial prep with one of the witnesses of the same case he'd just trial prepped the plaintiff for.

Blessedly, the witness was a lot more level headed and clear and concise.

Once that was done, more than a little done with the day, he went to grab yet another coffee before going to his office to watch the video of the interrogation. As suspected, Carisi really had done a great job at keeping him up to date. There wasn't anything he hadn't known, although seeing the lack of remorse for himself absolutely disgusted him. Neither sister gave a damn about what they did to the children.

Listening to the teenager's testimony had impressed him, however. Very few teenagers would have had the sense of mind to handle things the way she did. She handled the entire mess quite well, frankly, pushing forward to protect the kids she'd only just met.

Glancing over the crime scene photos, he shook his head. These so-called mothers were going to pay for their crimes.

To say he intended to lay the charges on would be an understatement. He fully intended to charge both women with the attempted murder of the older girl and the aggravated assault of her three-year-old sister. He was also intending to tack on several other charges: abandonment, unlawful confinement, criminal negligence by not providing medical attention, and failed to provide the necessaries of life.

By five o'clock he was down at the precinct to meet and discuss the case with Liv, just to make sure they were on the same page. He'd then learned that the younger Kotz sister, the aunt of the two hospitalized kids, was also now accused of assaulting two of her own children with a belt.

His hands had immediately curled into fists when he heard the news.

This case just kept getting better and better.

He still had scars from his old man's belts and had had nightmares well into adulthood.

Nobody deserved to live through that sort of hell. Your parents were supposed to protect you, damn it!

At least his mother had tried to protect him, although he'd been angry with her as well for a while. He'd also had his grandparents. His abuelita... he didn't even want to consider where he'd be without her. She'd been there for him through absolutely everything. Abuelo too, although he'd passed away much too early.

Trying to calm himself down some, he poured himself a small glass from the bottle of scotch he had off to the side and called the D.A to give him an update on the whole mess. Rafael'd then immediately set to getting a court date; planning to convene a grand jury as soon as possible.

With that done, he finished his glass of scotch before calling it a day and going home to his family, silently promising himself anew that he'd act nothing like his own father had his whole childhood with either Noah or Olivia. They deserved so much more than that.

As he opened that front door to Noah playing and chatting noisily while Liv sat on the couch laughing at the boy's antics, he couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face and the sense of pity he had for his father. _You could have had this too, Papá. You chose to destroy it. _

Hanging his jacket up, he couldn't wipe the smile off his face when he felt Noah wrap his arms around him, still chattering animatedly. "Papi, you won't guess what I did today!"

He ruffled the kid's hair, grinning. "Why don't you tell me all about it?"


	64. Chapter 64

Saturday morning dawned, and, groggily Rafael forced himself to get up, throwing his glasses on, trying to let Olivia sleep in a bit longer. Throwing a fresh pot of coffee on, he checked on Noah, who had just gotten dressed and was now quietly playing.

"¡Noah, pon la mesa, por favor! ¡El desayuno ya casi está lista!" Rafael had already taken three glasses down as they were too high for Noah, but he was able to reach the rest easily enough. (Noah, come set the table, please! Breakfast is almost ready!)

"Pero -" (But -)

"Por favor." (Please.)

Noah looked at him. "Ok, Papi. Just give me a minute."

"Ok, pero no tardes demasiado." He looked at Noah again. "And, thank you." (Ok, but don't take too long.)

He was purposefully waiting until the last minute to wake Olivia up though as he wanted her to get some sleep before he and Liv started running around to get more than a few of their errands done. Noah needed new clothes and school supplies, and grocery shopping needed to be done as well, and Noah was having a friend over later on top of it all.

Liv cleaned up after breakfast, which was Cuban bread, fruit salad and some café con leche for the adults. Noah had a glass of chocolate milk. While she did that, Rafael quickly started a load of laundry and played lego with Noah some - waiting for Liv to get ready to head out. She wanted to have a quick shower before back-to-school shopping, understandably. He opted to stay and wait with Noah before they all went their separate ways.

He'd been in the middle of saying goodbye to Noah and Liv when he received a work call, and so, answered, but still gave Noah a hug, nonetheless. The two left for the back-to-school shopping while he ran back to his study to get another file and scribble some new information down. He'd then noticed he had two work e-mails that he hadn't replied to, so quickly did that, hoping work would leave him alone for most of the afternoon, at least.

Regardless, he ran to the D.A's Office, quickly filing the completed documents, and talking to one of the ADAs who were working that day. Patience wearing a little thin, he was more than happy when he finally got out of there, not that grocery shopping was particularly enjoyable in and of itself, but it was still an improvement. Moreover, as expected, Rafael got home before the rest of his family. They were clearly still shopping, although they were likely not too far from being done. Noah was certainly a character when it came to shopping. The young boy changed his mind about what he wanted a lot and absolutely hated clothes shopping. Of course, that was typical of most kids and wasn't an issue in the slightest, but it did mean Rafael wasn't surprised that he was the one who got home first.

Quickly texting Liv to confirm when they'd be home, he set to work putting away the four bags of groceries, leaving out what they needed for sandwiches and a small salad, deciding to make an easy lunch for everyone given it was going to be a bit of a late lunch as it was.

After lunch, they all lounged around until Noah's friend arrived and then they made their way to the Imagination Playground at Burling Slip, where they spent a few hours just letting the boys play. Noah'd only been once before, sometime back, and wanted to go again. Imagination Playground was an interactive, transformable space that prompted children to manipulate their environment and create a play space of their own with sand, water and loose parts such as giant foam blocks, mats, wagons, fabric, and crates.

After the boys had had enough of that park they stopped for some ice cream and then headed home and let the boys play in Noah's room for a while before his parents came and picked Asher up shortly before dinner.

Once Asher was gone, they called Rafael's family back in Cuba. It was Laura's birthday, so they wanted to wish her a happy birthday. It'd also been a while since he'd last called, so after talking with Laura, he chatted with the rest of the family as well.

To say it had been a long day would be an understatement, and Rafael was more than happy to oblige Olivia when she suggested a popcorn and movie night after Noah went to bed, remarking that there were several good ones on TV.

Sunday was spent with his mother, Carisi, and the Rollins family. They'd actually ended up going to the piers for a walk, grabbing hotdogs for everyone, and watching the ships come and go, at the kids' request.

They'd then had to fight with Noah to go to bed and he was more than a little hyper. Rafael caught himself raising his tone with Noah but quickly checked himself, saying the kid could have one more story but then had to go to bed. They really needed him back on a regular sleeping schedule by next week or they were definitely going to have issues getting him up for school.

Monday was hectic for everyone, and had a slightly more irritable Rafael than usual at work, although come Tuesday, Noah was more than excited about his plans to go to the Children's Museum with Lucy later that day, chattering on excitedly, promising Lucy would take a lot of pictures and to tell them all about his day. Honestly, the kid was the sweetest sometimes.

He'd been slightly concerned he'd be late for work given his stopping at a coffee shop for a second coffee, but luckily, Rafael hadn't had too hard of a time finding a parking spot, and he was able to read over his paperwork for a case before a meeting he had first thing. After that was jury selection for the People v Christine Kotz et al.

With that moving along nicely, it meant he'd be in front of a grand jury, getting the indictments he needed, within fairly little time. Grand juries were typically quicker than a preliminary hearing, which was exactly what Rafael wanted right now.

He then got a call from Liv asking for him to get her a search warrant for the older Kotz sister's boyfriend's electronics, which hadn't taken too long when he managed to get through to the ever-busy Judge Barth. They wanted to see if he'd seen any signs of abuse or had any proof. Apparently, he had been less than willing to help, alleging he never saw a thing, given he didn't want to be charged as well. Understandable, but Rafael had little sympathy if the man did, in fact, know something and got the warrants quite quickly.

The next few hours largely consisted of a few work emails and more than a substantial amount of case preparation. Until he received a call from Captain Harris - who'd been assigned to the 30th precinct little under a week ago - however, that immediately had heat flooding his cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Rafael hissed, "my ADA did what?"

"You heard me, Barba," the man said. "In any case, I thought I'd come to you first instead of McCoy. A little professional courtesy." Let you get in front of the situation before your boss gives you grief.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "Thank you, Captain, and rest assured, the situation will be dealt with swiftly."

"Should I send him your way then after we're done here, Counsellor?"

He snorted, adjusting his glasses slightly. "Please do. I'll be down at the 16th brielfy, so, please let him know to wait."

"Of course you are," Harris said, a note of amusement in his voice.

"Don't poke fun," he said in jest, causing Harris to chuckle. "I haven't had nearly enough caffeine today."

"What, your assistant cut you off?"

He snorted. "Machine broke down and she refuses to let me replace it until the end of the month. McCoy's backing her up to. Both say I'll survive and don't need so much caffeine."

Now Harris was laughing truly. "God help the poor people in your office this week. So, about this deal..."

They quickly went over the new deal his office would be offering, Rafael completely overriding his idiotic ADA without hesitation. Satisfied Harris' case was now back on track, he grabbed a case file, hiding it in his drawer, threw his suit vest on and headed out.

Finding parking easily, he walked into the precinct, nodding at everyone as he deliberately made his way to the squads coffee machine to make himself a cup.

Within moments Carisi was making his way over to him. "Hey, Counsellor. What brings ya down here?"

"Oh, where to begin," he said, chuckling softly. He then took a sip of coffee, gesturing for Olivia - who was talking to Fin - to make her way over.

"What's up, man?" the rough around the edges sergeant asked when he and Olivia walked up.

He gestured towards Olivia. "Her, actually. I actually needed to get a copy of some documents from the lieutenant here."

She smiled at him, gesturing towards her office. "Their already waiting on my desk for you."

"Much appreciated," he said, letting her lead the way.

Once they were alone in his office, she looked at him. "So, what's going on?"

He sighed, rubbing his temple. "It's been an eventful day."

"How so?"

He launched into an explanation about what was going on with his ADA, the weak deal and absolutely prejudiced comments, absentmindedly rubbing his temple again. While he was talking, Liv went into his bag, passing him his migraine medication.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"You're no good when you're grumpy," she said wryly.

He gave a crooked smile. "Hmmm."

"Don't be too hard on him."

He sighed. "I won't, but he does need an attitude adjustment."

"Oh, agreed," she said, "but escalating things won't help either."

"I aware." Another sigh. "I should actually go meet him." He pulled her in for a quick kiss. "See you at home, Liv."

She gave him a peck on the cheek. "I love you, crazy man."

He smiled, despite himself. "I love you too, Cariño."

Feeling a bit more in control of himself, he made his way out of precinct, barely getting to his car when his phone beeped again. Ignoring it, he threw his phone on the seat beside him, turned the key and drove off.


	65. Chapter 65

In Rafael's opinion, things could have gone a bit smoother.

ADA Stewart was already waiting for Rafael when he arrived at the D.A's Office. It had taken a little longer than intended to get back to his office because he had to talk with the D.A and compose a quick letter afterwards. When confronted about his behaviour, it became quite clear that the young prosecutor felt little was wrong with his behaviour. He certainly tried to act contrite enough, but that's all it was, an act.

After giving him a lecture on the office's principles, making it abundantly clear that alienating people over something so petty wouldn't be tolerated, Rafael sent the man home, suspending him for two weeks without pay.

Unfortunately, that meant the man's cases had to be taken over in the meantime, which meant more overtime for Rafael and several of his more senior ADAs. It also meant he had to prep for a trial with way less time than usual. He'd managed it though, although he drank way more coffee than was probably healthy just to stay awake. On a brighter note, he'd gotten the indictments for the Kotz case. That had gone quite quickly after that with both women fighting to cut the better deal.

The downside of the indictment was despite initially charging the women with one count of attempted murder in connection with offences against a girl under the age of ten. After the grand jury hearing, he was told to amend the attempted murder charges to aggravated assault. Rafael was far from pleased but went along with it.

He and Liv had disagreed on how to proceed afterwards, when the women wanted to cut deals, but Rafael had put his foot down, choosing to sit down and hear the women out. Of course, that generosity - if you could call it that - only came after being made aware all the children were now released from the hospital and on the mend.

He'd turned down several offers before agreeing on multiple counts of aggravated assault and battery, child abandonment, unlawful confinement, criminal negligence by not providing medical attention, and failure to provide the necessaries of life. All sentences would be served concurrently and the women would also forfeit their parental rights as well as any future opportunity to reinstate them.

It meant the children didn't have to go through a mess of a trial and they would never have to visit the women in prison or go back to live with them. It was something both he and Liv could live with. A full-blown trial would have been even more traumatizing for the children and he wanted to protect them as much as possible. They both did.

He glanced around, noting that he had the jury completely enthralled; all listening to every word he was saying. Then someone caught his attention out of the corner of his eye; Olivia. She'd obviously just walked into court. It amused him slightly as the People v. Goslingwasn't even one of her cases. He gave her a near indiscernible smile as he placed several papers back on his desk before turning back to face the jury once more.

"Love…" he continued firmly, calmly assessing the jury as he did so, "is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own." He looked at the jury directly. "We would do anything to protect those we love. Love, it is equal and pure, without violent demonstrations. It is never about possession. It is neverabout control." He raised a hand, gesturing to bring his point home. "Do not let the defence convince you that what happened on the night in question was an act of passion. Ryan Gosling raped and then stabbed his wife Chantel six times before fleeing the scene and going to visit a friend." He gave the jury a pointed look, willing them to see how he felt about the man's actions. "The defence put together a convincing case arguing that Mr. Gosling was so overcome by grief after learning of his wife's affair. That he acted in a moment of insanity. His actions during and after nicely put as a very convenient psychotic break. Ladies and gentleman, Mr. Gosling is not insane. Mr. Gosling was enraged. Mr. Gosling was jealous. Resentful. Mr. Gosling was infuriated by his wife's decision to end their, in the defendants own terms, tempestuous marriage and, as such, set about ensuring that she never could."

He gestured again, taking a step forward. "Perpetrators of abuse often make their victims believe that they are somehow responsible for their own abuse. Such misplaced notions shift the blame of the abuse from the abuser to the abusee." Another pointed look from him. "Chantel Gosling's voice was taken away from her. We must be her voice. We are all responsible and we are all guilty if we don't do something about what happened here. Condoning it. You've seen the evidence, heard the testimony. Get out of your heads for just a moment, please. Imagine it was you, a friend, a sister, your mother, a niece, an aunt or another woman close to you that this happened to. I then ask you to find Mr. Gosling guilty."

After Rafael retook his seat it took little time at all for the judge to call for jury deliberations, dismissing everyone else. Gathering up his files, he slowly made his way over to Liv, who was waiting for him.

"Nice job in there, Counsellor."

"Thanks, Lieutenant!" he replied, readjusting his tie slightly. Not that it was overly out of place, but he was rather particular. "Hopefully common sense prevails."

"Wouldn't that be nice."

He hummed in response, then looked at her inquisitively. She had a file in her arms, so he had a pretty good idea of what this was about. "Did you need something, Lieutenant, or do you just enjoy court proceedings that much?"

She laughed, before handing him the file she was carrying and letting him give it a cursory read over. She then filled him in quickly on its contents and what had happened that morning. "Anyway, he wants to cut a deal."

He gave her a crooked smile. "I'll see what I can do." All of a sudden he felt vibrating in his pocket. Pulling out his phone, he glanced at the call display. "Sorry, I need to take this."

"It's fine, Love!" she assured him. "I'll talk to you later. Te amo mucho."

Verifying nobody was looking, he gave her a quick kiss. "Yo te amo también, mi vida." He turned his attention to his phone. "Rafael Barba speaking."

That interruption was a pretty good sign for how the rest of Rafael's afternoon was going to go. He was constantly on the phone, struggling to actually get any prep for his own cases done.

Still, with the guilty verdict coming rather quickly, he'd got enough done that he was comfortable enough to go home to watch Noah. The 16th had caught another case, so Liv would likely not be home before 8 or 9 o'clock at the earliest. He texted Liv not to worry about it and to do what she needed to do, and shot off a text to Lucy, letting her know he was on his way.

Getting home, he heard Noah before he even got the door open.

Upon hearing the keys in the door, Noah had shot up and pulled away from Lucy, before running full speed towards the aforementioned door. "Yay, Papi's home!"

He could easily hear Lucy's laugh that followed from the entranceway, although couldn't make out her actual reply.

Still standing at the door, he smiled and bent his knees as Noah launched himself into Rafael's arms. "So, who gave you sugar?"

The boy's reply was the epitome of one parent in particular. "Haha, you're a riot."

Rafael chuckled as he put the boy down, a self-satisfied smile on his lips. "Oh, I know. Maybe I should consider a career in comedy."

The young boy rolled his eyes, failing to hide his amusement. "Or the circus."

"I'd pay to see you in a clown suit," Lucy quipped, chuckling.

"I'd look fabulous as ever," he said, a full-blown smirk plastered on his face. "So, how was school, Noah? ¿Estuvo bien?"

"Sí," the boy replied. "I really like my new class."

"I'm glad," he said.

"He's rather excited about this project they started today," Lucy added, moving to grab her stuff so she could head out.

He turned back to Noah. "You'll have to tell me all about it then."

Noah nodded eagerly.

He chatted briefly with Lucy, just to make sure that he was caught up on what was going on with his son. Not that he had any cause for concern, and, as usual, there was little issue.

The young woman had barely left when his son started yanking on Rafael's sleeve. "¡Oh, Papi! ¡Papi! ¡Mira, mi diente se ha ido!" (Oh, Papi! Papi! My tooth is gone!)

Noah immediately stretched his lips to show off his missing tooth.

"¡Qué chévere! Supongo que el hada de los dientes te visitará pronto." He topped things off with an Eskimo kiss before heading to the kitchen, gesturing for Noah to follow him. "¿Por qué no me cuentas tu día mientras preparo la cena?" (How cool! I guess the Tooth Fairy'll be paying you a visit soon. Why don't you come tell me about your day while I make dinner?)

"¿Y luego puedo mostrarte el cohete que hice?" (And then can I show you the rocket that I made?)

"Claro, Mijo," he quickly replied. "¿Lo hiciste solo?" (Of course, Son. Did you make it all by yourself?)

"Sí," Noah said proudly. "¡Es bastante grande y se ve súper genial! También tiene todos estos colores diferentes y -" (It's pretty big and looks super cool! It has all these different colours on it too, and -)

He was amused by Noah's enthusiasm. "Dale, vamonos. Cuanto antes comience la cena, lo más pronto podrás mostrarme ese cohete." (Come on, let's go. The sooner dinner's started, the sooner you can show me that rocket-ship of yours.)

Noah giggled, following him eagerly. "¡Es verdad!" (True.)

"¿Qué te parece si comemos tortillas españolas para la cena?" (What do you think about Spanish tortillas for dinner?)

"Sí, por favor. Son realmente deliciosas," Noah said. "Y no vas a creer lo que pasó hoy en la escuela, Papi..." (Yes, please. They're really good. And you're not going to believe what happened today at school, Papi...)

As Noah went on about his day, all the fun he had and the things he learned, Rafael sincerely hoped Noah never lost his love for life, that spark he had. He also hoped Noah wouldn't forget these little moments as he got older. They might not seem much to him, but to Rafael they were everything. They made the fear of being a father, the fear of messing up, so very worth it. Rafael wouldn't change them for anything.


	66. Chapter 66

For Rafael, the next two weeks seemed to fly by. They'd gone out for dinner with Donald Cragen and his wife Eileen one evening, but he'd been very busy the rest of the time. He'd get to work, talk with Carmen about his schedule, answer some e-mails, and find himself in court almost every morning for either multiple hearings or a trial. Court came to a close around noon and he'd meet with one member of opposing counsel or another to discuss plea bargains. After that, he'd respond to a few more e-mails, return a few calls, all the while trying to grab a really quick lunch.

By two o'clock almost every day, he was back in court for either a hearing or, more often than not, trial preparation. He'd had one witness show up hours later than needed, accompanied by their father, which made his job more complicated. He'd then had another witness entirely recant their story on the stand, which was what it was. The outcome of that case hadn't been exactly what Rafael would have liked, but it was better than an outright acquittal. He'd at least made some of the lesser charges stick.

The rest of the time was spent frequently responding to numerous e-mails, making and dealing with various inquires, occasionally working down at the precinct, a lot of reports, and a lot of time doing research and case preparation.

He'd also learned that Judge Barth had stepped down, meaning there was an opening, and he'd honestly considered applying for an appointment to the bunch. A part of him was scared to do it, though.

Regardless, he kept working and somehow managed to be home by half-past six every night. He'd been able to spend a lot more time with his family because of it, which was nice.

He'd accepted a lateral transfer from a Richmond County ADA. Counsellor Owens had been with the D.A's office for ten years and was definitely reasonably competent. He'd looked over several of her previous cases a couple of months back and talked with McCoy quite extensively. Both were content with bringing her on, so she'd finally been brought in. He'd also finally got the hang of managing his time a little better, so it was nice to actually be able to breathe.

That was just as well because he and Liv ended up holding another conference that Saturday, which went as smoothly as the could have hoped. They'd managed to get enough funding for testing another pair of rape kits, and so they were awaiting the results of those.

Every kit they got tested was a win in their books, and Liv really enjoyed it, getting to talk with the people and see that immediate response. To know that they were doing something that was a tangible difference, even if on a small scale.

Now, Noah was, thankfully, doing very well in school. He'd aged out of the program he was in at Kids Club, so they'd allowed him to pick another activity that interested him. He'd decided to continue with baseball, which Liv was happy about. Noah had apparently had a rough go of it at the start of last season. Rafael wasn't the greatest either, but he took Noah out to practice some basic stuff, and before long he was actually a fairly good catch. A necessity when Rafael had, frankly, poor aim.

On Fridays, he and Liv had also enrolled Noah in an afterschool program at his mother's charter school - Los Amiguitos. Lucy would pick him up from his school, and drive him directly to the Bronx. He ended up arriving about ten minutes late due to the commute, but the program started with the kids just eating an afterschool snack and chatting. Moreover, Noah wasn't the only late arrival either. This meant that it was a non-issue really. His mother had also offered to drive Noah home afterwards, so Lucy only needed to make the trip once.

This particular Friday, however, they had dinner at his mother's while Noah was at a sleepover with Jesse. They'd both been bugging the adults for a playdate, and tonight seemed as good as any. His Aunt Claudia was down for the weekend with an old family friend - Ricardo Alvarez - who Rafael had known for most of his life. He hadn't seen the man since the wedding, so it was good to see him. Apparently the two were now together, which was a little odd, but good for them he supposed. The man had babysat him quite a few times over the years and had been really close with the family before he moved to Miami shortly before Rafael graduated.

However, the adults figured Noah might be a bit bored. They gave him a choice though, but he was extremely excited to get to see Jesse.

While they were all chatting away in the living room, Rafael was helping his mother with dinner in the kitchen.

"¿Puedes terminar de hacer la ensalada, Papito?" (Can you finish making the salad, Son?)

"Sí, Mami. Luego iré a ver cómo están todos." (Yes, Mami. Then I'll go and see how everyone's doing.)

"Gracias, Rafi, y el arroz con pollo estará listo en un minuto." (Thanks, Rafi, and the Arroz con Pollo will be ready in a minute.)

"Perfecto."

It hadn't taken long to finish the salad, and baring anything else to do, he immediately set to work cleaning up some of the mess in the kitchen while his mother quickly finished cooking the zucchini. The Boniatillo and Merenguitos were already done and chilling, so they'd bring those out later once everyone had eaten. Boniatillo being a sweet potato dessert that Rafael was particularly fond of.

With that dealt with he headed out to the living room to check on everyone, not surprised in the least to hear 'Me Voy Pa Moron' playing in the background. His tía had clearly taken over the music selection.

He chuckled. "What, no Benny Moré?"

"You can wait until after my 'Caramelo,'" his aunt stated simply.

Ricardo didn't miss a beat. "I'm still trying to get Cuca here to play 'Caballo Viejo,'" the man deadpanned, gesturing towards Rafael's aunt.

Liv gave him a pointed look. "This is one fight I'm staying out of."

"¡Dale! Hurry up, Tío Richi," he said, laughing. "Mami'll be out here before long, and it's basically a guarantee she'll put 'Te Quiero, Te Quiero' on."

Ricardo chuckled. "Oh, lo sé, Papito." Rafael rolled his eyes. "Did Rafi ever tell you about the time he tried climbing a bookshelf and knocked everything over?" (Oh, I know, Papito.)

"No," Liv said, her interest piqued. "Please do share."

He shook his head, amused. "I do believe I got grounded for that."

He'd been no more than seven or eight years old and one weekend, while everyone was cleaning the house, he'd been listening to the music playing in the living room and got the great idea to climb the bookshelf. Needless to say, it was a bad idea. Most of the stuff on the shelves were now on the ground.

His mother had been less than thrilled to walk in and see that. She'd freaked out majorly about how badly he could have hurt himself. Understandably.

"¡No por primera o última vez, Rafi!" his Tía Claudia said, laughing. "Your mother was so beside herself. Completamente." (Not for the first or last time, Rafi. Completely.)

"And that was after Abuelita had already gotten out la chancleta," he said with a snort. Frankly, that was not for the first or last time either. "You'd think one punishment would be enough, pero evidentemente no." (But evidently not.)

"¡Sí, Rafi, porque de ninguna manera te lo merecías!" his aunt quipped. (Yes, Rafi, because you in no way deserved it!)

He waved the comment off. "Estuve muerto de aburrimiento durante dos semanas," he scoffed, not really upset. (I was bored to death for two weeks.)

"¡Ay, tremendo paquete!" Tía Claudia replied. "Our resident drama queen here was a rather good kid, but definitely not a saint. Gave us all more than a few grey hairs, I'll tell you." (Ay, so much drama!)

He rolled his eyes. "I live to entertain."

Olivia turned to Ricardo. "Ok, now you really have to share."

"Bueno, he was listening to -" and off the man went recounting the story. He's just started another, slightly more embarrassing story when his mother called for dinner.

Dinner was, as fully expected, a fairly animates affair. Everyone was chatting amicably and swapping stories over food and a glass of Cuba Libre and wine.

By the time dessert was brought out Ricardo was off telling some pretty horrible jokes that were honestly, hilarious. Rafael hadn't laughed so hard in a while, and he wasn't the only one. Liv had literally laughed so hard she was crying after one particular joke.

His mother was looking at Ricardo with what Rafael could only describe as 'amused disbelief' while his aunt just looked amused. "You're horrible, Richi! Honestamente."

"Why are you surprised?" his aunt quipped. "He's only been like this for as long as we've known him."

"God only knows," his mother retorted. "I really shouldn't be."

Ricardo looked at Rafael's mother, entertained. "Flaca, if you're not used to me by now, I really don't know what to tell you."

She rolled her eyes. "Guapo, want a repeat of me dumping that bucket of ice water on you? No pienses que no lo haré." (Don't think I won't do it.)

Rafael laughed. "I actually still have the video of that somewhere."

"That's just great!" his aunt chimed in, snickering.

"Oh, you're so showing me that later!" Olivia added, clearly amused.

Ricardo groaned. "Papito, I'm begging you," the man said, looking directly at Rafael. "Delete that damned thing."

"Or not," Rafael retorted, chuckling. "I didn't even know your voice could get that high, Tío. Bad luck on the white shirt, though."

Ricardo gave an eye roll, a slight smirk forming. "Laugh it up. Just remember, I've known you since the day you came home from the hospital. I have my own ammo. No comiences algo que no puedas terminar." (Don't start something you can't finish.)

"Oh, I think I can help with that too, Richi," Liv said, chiming in. "I've got a few good ones tucked away myself."

Ricardo grinned. "Fantástico. So, wise guy, what say you now?"

Now it was Rafael's turn to groan, causing everyone to laugh, even himself.

God, he loved his family. Even if they did drive him completely crazy most of the time. He really wouldn't have it any other way.


	67. Chapter 67

Saturday ended up being a much calmer day, everyone luckily managing to not get called into work. Thankfully. He and Liv really needed the extra sleep after being up so damn late the night before. Not that he was complaining, but still...

He made bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. He then quickly cleaned up the kitchen while Olivia quickly threw a load of laundry in the wash. Satisfied with the state of the kitchen, he brought two filled plates into the living room, along with a cup of coffee for both of them.

The pair then sat, chatting intermittently, between bites of food and watching TV. They ended up watching Games of Thrones reruns, which was fine by him. He'd let Olivia pick the show this time, given that he picked the show more times than not when it was just them.

They watched a couple of episodes of that and spent the rest of the morning lounging around, with their head's in a book. Rafael was currently reading a book he'd just recently bought: '_La Colmena_,' by Camilo José Cela. He'd also bought '_Cien Años de_ _Soledad_' but was starting with the former.

It was his first time reading it, but the novel was really quite good. The story was set in Madrid in 1943, after the end of the Spanish Civil War, and dealt with the poverty and general unhappiness found in Spain through the lens of a multitude of fictional characters in varying degrees. In Rafael's opinion, the descriptions and detail were more than reasonably well done. There was so much carefully thought out detail it was easy to get pulled right into the story.

Putting the books down, they went out for a somewhat early lunch date at Carmine's. They chatted for a while about everything and anything before it was time to head out and make their way to the theatre.

They'd bought tickets to the two o'clock Dear Evan Hansen at the Music Box Theatre in Midtown. They'd briefly considered going to Little Shop of Horrors which was playing at the Westside Theatre but had opted not to. It really wasn't Liv's thing. Rafael had seen it before, so really didn't mind going to see something else.

The show was actually quite good. It was a slightly newer musical, having debuted only four or five years previous. He could understand how the show had won Best Musical and Best Score since it opened.

It was about a teenager with social anxiety, a false friendship, several letters that were written and the events that transpired there around.

It wasn't a feel-good show, by any means. It wasn't too heavy either though, despite touching slightly on teen suicide. It was really well done and had a decent message to take away from it. All in all, they'd both enjoyed themselves immensely.

"I'd go see that again," Liv said. "It was honestly quite moving."

"I know."

She reached for his hand. "I'm glad we did this."

After the show, they drove over to the Rollins family home to get Noah.

"Can I get ya'll some coffee?" Rollins asked as they took a seat in the living room.

"Do you even have to ask?" he said in jest.

"Correction. Liv, would _you_ like coffee?" Rollins said. "Your husband's obviously had enough for the day."

"Ay!" he said, causing both women to laugh. "That's just playing dirty, Rollins."

"Don't tease the poor man, Amanda," Carisi quipped, readjusting his hold on Billie, who was happily drinking a bottle of milk. "It's not his fault he's addicted. Help the poor man."

Rafael rolled his eyes, seeing Olivia biting her lip trying not to laugh. "You wound me."

Rollins' eyes twinkled with amusement. "Ok, ok. Who am I to stand between a man and his caffein."

He chuckled. "Thank you, Rollins." He turned to the kids. "So, did you two have fun?"

"So much fun," Jesse said enthusiastically. "Right, Noey?!"

"Definitely, Jes!" Noah said, grinning.

"What did you little rascals get up to?" Liv asked. "Did you end up going to the park?"

"Uh-huh," Jesse said, "only we did lots of other stuff too."

"Oh?" Rafael asked, "what else did you do?"

"We watched a movie," Jesse said. "It was funny."

"The Secret Life of Pets," Noah explained happily. "It really was funny. Aunty Amanda took us for ice cream. I got chocolate."

"I got a strawberry one. Oh, Mommy made tacos too," Jesse added. "And we went for a walk with Mommy and Uncle Sonny too."

"Went to the Chelsea Piers for a bit," Rollins said. "You kiddos forgot to mention the museum."

"Oh yeah," Jesse said, giggling. "Oopsy."

Olivia nodded. "Which Museum?"

"The Children's Museum," Rollins explained, passing Rafael his coffee.

"Wow," Liv said. "Sounds like you both had a great time. Where you good for Aunty Amanda?"

Noah nodded. "Uh-huh. Promise."

Rollins ruffled Noah's hair. "He was great, honestly, Liv."

"Glad to hear it," Rafael said, tickling Noah. The room instantly filled with the sound of Noah's laughter. "Our little trouble maker."

They stayed and visited for a while longer before going home, Rafael helping Noah with his homework while Olivia made spaghetti for dinner and brought out the small plate of meringues his mother had sent them home with.

Sunday, after attending mass, the Garcias and Rafael's family joined them at the kickoff of Family Days at Carnegie Hall.

The event was absolutely packed, children of all ages running everywhere and music coming from any and all directions. The kids all loved it, and the adults all had a great time as well, although the kids were a little tired and starting to get a tad grumpy towards the end of their time there. Still, the outing had gone really well.

Back at home, he finished prepping Natilla and a few other dishes for dinner. He was planning on making grilled mojo chicken, fried plantains, white rice and a small avocado salad for dinner. He'd started the marinade that morning before making the drive out to the Bronx. Noah and Liv both helped out quite a bit too, which was great. Noah was really interested in learning.

Prepping done, he started to tidy up as much of the kitchen as he currently could. He didn't get very far though before Liv brought out a couple of games for them all to play.

With the grill preheating, he set a timer on the stove, and sat down at the table, easily taking the hint. He could think of a million worse ways he could be spending his evening than playing a game, at home, with his family.

Olivia looked at then both. "Monopoly or Spot It?"

He glanced at their son."Any preference, Noah?"

"Monopoly!" the young boy said rather loudly.

"Alright then!" he said, chuckling. "Which piece do you want to be?"

The young boy seemed to consider this for a second. "The doggy, please."

"Alright," he chuckled. "I'll be the car."

"I'll take a hit and be the thimble," Liv said in jest. "I'm not being a boot of all things."

"Good," he quipped, eyes twinkling with mischief. "You can use it to make something nice for yourself when you lose."

She raised an eyebrow, the slight upturn of her lips showing her amusement. "Is that so, Mister Suspenders?"

"Yupp," he teased. "Unequivocally."

She smirked. "Then, husband of mine, you'll have to put your money where your mouth is." She turned to their son. "What do you say we make your father eat his words?"

Noah giggled. "Definitely! You're so on, Papi!"

"Then bring it on," he said with a grin. "May the best player win."


	68. Chapter 68

Monday dawned, hectic as ever. Liv had been called in early, leaving it up to Rafael to drop Noah off at school and run to a motion hearing for a case of his involving the rape of a prostitute. The john was giving every predictable excuse known to mankind and, to no surprise, Rita was trying to make things as complicated as possible for him, definitely putting up a fight.

This wasn't the first motion hearing for this case. A motion to dismiss had been the first one, right after the bat, and when that hadn't worked she'd filled a motion in limine, that she'd managed to work out into her favour.

Irritated and having a bit more evidence now about the accused's background he'd swiftly moved for a motion to compel.

"Your Honour," Rita stated, "Mr. Barba's argument is beyond preposterous. This is nothing but a gross overreach."

He glanced at the brunette defence attorney. "Hardly," he snorted. "If the counsellor would get off their soapbox for five seconds and do some research they'd know the points they're arguing against have been on the books for decades."

"And opposing counsel could get off their high horse," Rita retorted.

He smirked. "How about a definition of Affirmative Consent for your troubles?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. She knew what going into that room meant."

Judge Cohen rolled his eyes, more than a little irritated with the childish antics. "Counsellors, keep the bickering to your own time."

"Sorry, Your Honour," he said. "With that said, the statute is clear. It states that -"

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Barba," the judge said wryly. "I'm familiar with what the statute says." The judge looked between the both of them. "And he's right. I'm granting your motion."

"Thank you, Judge."

With the hearing over, he met with Efron regarding a plea deal for one of his other cases involving two teenagers who'd been dating. The case was a mess.

He dealt with some work e-mails and got updates on some of his ADAs' cases before Carmen showed up making it clear it was lunchtime.

He'd texted Liv, but she'd apparently caught another case and was more than a little busy. She did need him to quickly get her a set of warrants, though, which he quickly put together and sent off.

A woman - Pilar Reyes - called the police claiming she was raped. The young woman was an actress. She had an audition with a big media mogul - Sir Tobias Moore - and she thought he was going to put her in one of his movies. She alleged that he pretended to give her an audition and then told her that she was going to have to earn her job. The man then allegedly assaulted her right there in his office.

One thing that was on Pilar's side was the fact that she quickly disclosed the assault, which helped her credibility immensely. She also mentioned how there would be DNA all around his office because that's how he relieved himself and so, of course, the police wanted to get a warrant to DNA test Moore's office. They believed it would go a long way towards proving Pilar's claim. They also thought the warrant might very reveal evidence of other assaults because it didn't sound like Moore's first time. He brought in the ingenue and his assistant just conveniently goes home for the night early.

It sounded too much like a long-held arrangement that Moore has with his assistant. She most likely knew what he was going to do and left in order to give him the time he needed to assault Pilar. Given that situation, Pilar couldn't have been the first. There were other women out there and they could all come pouring in if the detectives made this arrest. That was the goal anyway. Bury the guy.

Apparently one of his senior ADAs - Vanessa Hadid - had caught the case and decided to be extremely difficult. She didn't want to sign off on any warrants, citing a weak case. Not unlike what had gone on with Stone. They tried to reason with her but the squad quickly became fed up, opting to simply call him.

More than a little busy himself, but knowing he needed to grab something to eat he ran down to a sandwich shop he was more than familiar with by this point and started going over more of the reports sitting on his desk and dealing with a few more phone calls - one of which was formally taking over the case from ADA Hadid.

She was generally good at her job, but she liked to play it safe and was very politically minded. She didn't like much risk at all.

After dealing with her, he then had a meeting with Jack McCoy which could have gone a bit better. Thankfully, he hadn't had any further issues with ADA Stewart and any other issues had been fairly minor. He largely just had to make sure that the District Attorney was kept in the loop and they were on the same page with what was going on in the D.A's Office.

Things got more complicated when the new case was brought up. McCoy didn't want a scene at all and basically told him to keep his head down and watch his steps. Still, they both knew he was going to go after the serial predator, high profile or not. With that being said, Rafael knew exactly who's career would be paying for a misstep during this case, and it wouldn't be Jack's.

After that, he had another meeting with a defence attorney - this time, Buchanan - about one of his personal cases. That man lived to irritate the hell out of Rafael it seemed... he didn't understand how one person could be so damn obnoxious.

After telling Buchanan to stick his crappy deal where the sun didn't shine, he tried to get through a few more reports. That didn't go as planned, however, as Rafael's phone decided then to ding.

Seeing Olivia's face pop up on the screen, he answered. "Hey, Lieutenant. Got something for me, I take it?"

"Don't I always, Counsellor?" she quipped. "The dusty pages of legal precedent'll have to wait. We set up a honey trap and could use you down here."

Still on the phone, he started throwing on his suit jacket and rummaging for his keys. "I'm on my way, Liv. See you shortly."

Quickly letting Carmen know he was leaving, he ran down to his car and prayed he'd actually be able to get parking spot not far from the precinct.

It took longer than he'd like to find a parking spot just outside the precinct, but wasn't too bad, given how bad it could easily be. Locking the car, he ran into the 16th, walking directly into the squad room.

Spotting Carisi and Liv, he marched right on over to them. Once in front of them, Olivia thrust a cup of coffee into his hand.

He smiled. "Have I mentioned you're amazing?"

His wife chuckled. "And don't you forget it."

He took a sip of his coffee and looked at the lieutenant and detective. "So, show me this footage you've got. It better be good."

Carisi looked at him. "Lead the way, Counsellor."

The lieutenant looked at him. "I'll explain while we walk."

"Perfect," he said, "because I frankly need this served on a silver platter. The D.A's... concerned, shall we say."

Listening to the footage of Reyes and Moore, Rafael felt a headache coming on. This was a mess. The officers found out Moore contacted her so they had her agree to meet him only this time she wore a wire. She was supposed to get Moore to admit to what he did on tape and he was smarter than that. He skirted around what happened.

_"One white wine," Sir Toby said. "And tickets to the premiere and the VIP party afterwards."_

_"Who's gonna be there?"_

_"VIPs. Everybody."_

_Pilar laughed. _

_"You seem a little nervous," Sir Toby pointed out._

_"I am," she admitted. "After what happened."_

_"What do you mean? __At the audition?"_

_He could only assume she nodded._

_"No, don't be so hard on yourself, hey?"_

_"Me?" she said incredulously. _

_"Yeah," Sir Toby said. "Don't be so hard on yourself. I mean, everybody's nervous the first time. Could give you another shot at it."_

_"Another Audition... like, in your office?"_

_"Well, now you've had time to think about it, and realize what it takes to get the part."_

_"I guess so."_

_"Well, that's brilliant. I've got a suite upstairs with a camera in it." He seemed to assess her. "Shall we, hey?"_

_"Mm-hmm."_

He glanced at Olivia questioningly. "I told her to stay in the lounge. She went off script all on her own."

He nodded, turning his attention back to the audio.

_"What's going to happen to me this time?"_

_"Excuse me?"_

_"Will you force yourself on me again?"_

_"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Force myself on you?" Sir Toby said defensively. "Is this some kind of a shakedown, because if it is, it's not gonna work out too well for you. One call from me, and you'll find your provocative little ass at a detention center in Brooklyn."_

The lieutenant glanced at Rafael, turning the audio off. "You get the idea."

Moore knew how to play it. He managed to flip what she was saying and he accused her of trying to extort money from him. Moore quickly left after that, but while the tape did have some good bits, it was going to be a hard sell to McCoy.

"Revet Ms. Reyes," he said. "Get ahead of this, Liv. Talk to her. If she knows anything about her past that could be used to muddy the waters, she needs to come forward. Now."

The lieutenant nodded. "I'll talk to her."

"Meanwhile, Carisi," he said, "get the rest of the squad to see if they can get into any of his prior bad acts. "However, we move deliberately. No more half-baked ideas." He sighed. "At least he clearly puts himself in the room with her."

"Counsellor," Liv said, "he has a premiere tonight. There's gonna be a lot of press."

He quirked an eyebrow.

"We've arrested people on a lot less," she stated, making her point clear.

"We move deliberately," he reiterated. Making eye contact with her, he added, "If you feel the need to arrest him, just don't make it so public. But for the love of God, before you arrest him, at least try and get into his bad acts first."

"I can do that," she said with a nod.


	69. Chapter 69

The next day they met with Pilar Reyes down at the precinct after a trial prep session he had with a victim from one of his other cases.

"What do you mean?"

Olivia looked at the young woman. "I mean that we have to stay ahead of Sir Toby, Pilar." She spoke softer. "He's gonna try to dig up any dirt that he can on you."

He looked at Reyes. "If there's anything at all, even a simple mistake, I need to know it. The defence will use it to discredit you in any way they can. We subpoenaed the audition tapes, which will hopefully contain something useful, but I need to know everything. I can't help you as effectively otherwise."

"There's nothing to find," Ms. Reyes said. "I lived with my mother before I came here from Venezuela."

He gave the young woman a pointed look. "Todos cometemos errores, Srta. Reyes," he said. (Everyone makes mistakes, Ms. Reyes.)

The young woman looked right up at him. She met his eyes as she spoke. "No hay nada que encontrar, Sr. Barba." (There's nothing to find, Mr. Barba.)

He nodded. He didn't believe the girl was a saint, as everyone had a past, but that didn't mean she did anything major either. She came off as a bit naive and a fairly good person, so she probably hadn't. He'd give her the benefit of the doubt.

He was about to ask another question when his attention was drawn to a knock on the door behind him. Carisi walked in. "Counsellor, Lieutenant, you have a visitor."

"We'll right back," Liv said, leading him out of the room.

"Judge Barth," Rafael said. "What can we do for you?"

"Can we speak in private?"

"Absolutely," Olivia said. "Let's step into my office."

The three of them now seated, Olivia was the first to speak. "So, I heard that you stepped down."

"It was my decision," she said. "Ending my marriage wasn't, but two kids in college, it was either private practice or public bankruptcy."

"I'm so sorry."

"No, no, no, it's fine," the former judge said. "It's great to be back on the front lines, and to get paid for it."

"Undoubtedly," Rafael said.

Olivia rolled her eyes at Rafael's quip. "So, what brings you here?"

"One of my clients called me in," Barth said, glancing at the interview room. "Is this Ms. Reyes?"

"Yes," Liv said. "You're working for Sir Toby Moore?"

The former judge nodded. "I am."

Liv's eyes flickered with something he couldn't read. "I see."

"This just keeps getting better," Rafael said, fighting to keep the sneer off his face.

The judge ignored his tone. "Sir Toby is aware of how easy it is these days to target prominent men, so I would be especially skeptical of this one."

"She's very credible," Liv said.

"Is she? There are rumours that she was working as a prostitute in Caracas."

"I can easily guess who started those," Rafael said.

"If it's out there, we'll find it," Barth said. "Oh, I almost forgot. I have the girl's audition tape, as requested. And threw in a little extra."

He raised an eyebrow.

"It's the last five women that auditioned for Sir Toby, ending in Ms. Reyes," the former judge explained, "and from the looks of it, she's a much better actress with you both than she is on camera."

Damn it all.

"Amore, I must have you."

"I've gotta stop you there, Monica. It's still awkward and stiff. Just-just relax. Just say it again now."

"You're still a man in my eyes. Let me make you whole again."

"That's good. We're getting somewhere now. If you can combine that with that vulnerability with a certain sexuality, I think we've got something here. Do you want to try it again?"

"Yeah?"

"Querido, I just want to make you happy."

"The scenes always end before he makes his move," Liv said, frustrated.

"Well, he's definitely not stupid," Rafael said. "So, there are five auditions, all with a blurred line between coercion and direction."

"Exactly, Counsellor," Rollins said, "and we know how this goes. So does Sir Toby. I mean, he's so used to being above the law. He didn't even remove the footage from his other victims."

"'Cause he knows they're not gonna talk," Fin said. "He's taunting us."

Rafael glanced at the video and looked up, smirking. "Maybe he just overplayed his hand. We know he has priors and he just tipped us off on exactly who to talk to."

Liv looked at the detectives. "Go see if one of these women will come forward."

Grabbing a quick bite to eat near East 47th Street with everyone, Carisi stated he'd found a lot of information on the internet but no arrests and charges ever got filed or the victim recanted. Fin figured Moore was paying them off and Rafael couldn't disagree. Rafael honestly figured Moore would go right for Pilar.

Hopefully, Rollins and Olivia would be able to keep Ms. Reyes on their side.

While everyone was running around on an evidence hunt, Rafael was back dealing with reports and more than a few phone calls.

He hadn't had to wait too long, however, before a witness that wasn't even on their radar came forward and he was called back down to the precinct.

Rollins had gone to Park Slope to speak with one woman who outlined her situation with Toby which had taken place in Austin. Fin spoke with another at a restaurant who implied she had a non-disclosure agreement.

Olivia and Rafael spoke with yet another woman, Amelia, who was his babysitter who explained what happened but was a bit timid.

"Amelia would you be willing to testify?" Olivia asked.

"I could never do that. I'm sorry."

Everyone now in the squad room, they discussed the victims, the NDAs, and what they were going to do about Pilar and her new lawyer.

They hadn't been reconvening long before a woman arrived, asking for Fin. She introduced herself as Gemma Brooks, an actress, who said her friend couldn't talk about Sir Toby but she could.

The timing of the woman and how straightforward she was, gave Rafael a bad gut feeling, however, right off the bat.

"And you said that this happened five years ago?" Olivia asked.

"Uh-huh. We met at a party. He said he had a script for me in his room."

"The hotel, do you remember the name?" the lieutenant inquired.

"No, but I remember there was a wall of glass overlooking the Highline. He pushed me against it. I-I remember people watching while he raped me."

"I'm so sorry," Liv said. She paused. "Do you want to take a break?"

"Yeah."

Out in the hallway, he spoke with Olivia. "You believe her story?"

"I do," she confirmed. "Rollins and I have taken turns interviewing her for the last four hours. She has specific details, consistent, has never worked with him since. Now, Gemma did sign a non-disclosure agreement, but she is willing to swear that it was coerced."

"And about her just walking in?"

"Well, she heard that we were investigating Sir Toby, from another actress."

"I'm not so sure," he said. "Send Fin to find out more about her while you finish the interview."

"You don't believe her?"

"My gut's just telling me something's off," he said.

Giving him a pointed look, she went over to talk to Fin before continuing with the interrogation. Eventually, Olivia left, letting Rollins finish the interview while she dealt with Chief Dodds who just arrived.

"This is the dress you wore the night he attacked you?"

"I know it's crazy, but I saved it."

"Does Sir Toby know she's here?" Dodds asked.

"No, but he's been ahead of us so far," the lieutenant said. "Barba's willing to sign off on the arrest warrant."

Chief Dodds looked at him and back to Liv. "Hold off. Keep this under wraps until we can get Sir Toby's DNA."

"I'll see what I can do," Rafael said. He looked at Dodds. "Barth'll love this."

The man snorted. "Oh, no doubt!" He looked at Olivia. "Test the dress. When it's a match, pick him up."

Liv looked at Chief Dodds. "Then we're good to go?"

"Then we're good to go," the man confirmed.

Chief Dodds didn't stick around much longer before taking his leave; Rafael quickly planning to follow suit. "I'm going to head out and try and get that court order."

She nodded. "While you do that I'll dig around like you asked. See if I can find anything out about Gemma and Sir Toby's relationship."

He gave her a small smile. "Call me when you've got something."


	70. Chapter 70

To say that the pressure was on would be an understatement. Basically everyone on the eighth floor was shoving their opinion down his throat. Still, after three days of near radio silence and everyone's frustrations growing, he'd been able to convince Judge Nathan Murphy to grant him the court order for Moore's DNA. He'd had Liv give Rollins babysitting duty though, keeping an eye on Gemma. He wanted to limit any chance of Sir Toby contacting her. Getting anyone to cooperate was harder than he'd like, however. He'd contacted six different judges- all of whom ignored him - before he'd finally got Judge Murphy to hear him out.

They'd put a rush on the DNA test, and within hours got a call saying that the DNA was a match. Liv had been in a particularly good mood when he called her to give the squad the good news and let them know to go ahead and pick up the arrest warrant from Judge Murphy.

At SVU, Fin removed the cuffs and put Toby Moore in the holding cell. He hadn't been there long, however, before Barth came to get Toby and he was released.

Barth had the guile to chide Olivia, saying she knew Moore had counsel and courtesy would have had her arrange the arrest through her. As the cell opened, Judge Barth flat out told Toby that SVU completely disregarded all protocol.

The arrogant piece of work stood there looking smug. "Did they? Why would you do that? All this over some young girl's silly fantasy."

Rafael adjusted his glasses, shaking his head. The man found absolutely nothing wrong with his behaviour.

"Well, it turns out that a number of other women came forward with additional accusations," the lieutenant stated.

"Oh, a number," Sir Toby said. "Sounds like a MeToo witch hunt. No names, Olivia? No? Oh, and how's the judge supposed to represent me if we don't know what the charge is?"

Rafael took a step forward, smirking right back. "How does a little thing called Rape in the First Degree sound?"

"Standard Hotel," Olivia added in way of explanation. "The woman said that people could see it from the Highline."

"Gemma," the man said, tone flat. "How the hell did they get to her? Hmm?"

Trying to figure out what their next move was, given Ms. Reyes now having signed a nondisclosure agreement, and everything that happened, Rafael pinched his nose and walked over, making himself a coffee. "I need a shower."

"Oh, I know how you feel, Rafa."

"I can't wait until this case is over," Carisi said, walking up with Fin.

Rafael looked at the detective. "You're not the only one."

Liv's phone dinged. Answering it she threw it on speakerphone. "Rollins, please tell me you've got something."

"It's not good," the blonde detective said. "Sir Toby's trying to contact Gemma. She didn't want to show me at first, but I eventually got the full story."

"Full story of what?" Liv asked.

"Please tell me she didn't lie," Rafael said, feeling beyond exasperated by this point. "And please tell me you didn't let her respond."

He could almost hear the wince in Rollins' voice. "She didn't respond, but she did hide something, Counsellor." He sighed. "Her relationship with Sir Toby's consensual. She was told to come in."

"What?" he said incredulously. "Oh, the Commissioner is going to have my head by the end of this."

"You've got time to get ahead of this, man," Fin said. "At least you know before this went public or to trial."

Liv pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alright. Um, don't let this go public. Rollins, keep her as far out of the limelight as possible."

The last thing Rollins said before hanging up was, "Good luck, Counsellor." He couldn't deny he'd need it.

He rubbed his temple. "I can't believe this."

"Gemma played us."

"Oh, not just Gemma," Rafael scoffed. "Sir Toby as well. That tape that Barth handed us was his Trojan horse." He glared. "You told me you vetted her."

"I took the disclosure myself. She's not making this up. We even confirmed her outcry to friends," Olivia said. "She's telling the truth."

"Part of it," Rafael said. "So what's she doing now?"

Olivia looked at him. "She wouldn't be the first vic to start a consensual relationship with her rapist in order to gain some sense of control."

"Try explaining that to a jury," Rafael sneered. His phone dinged. "Great." He rubbed his forehead, reading the text from Rita. Not speaking, he walked over and turned the TV onto NY1.

Judge Barth was on TV. "Last night, the NYPD falsely arrested my client, Sir Toby Moore, accusing him of assaulting several young actresses. Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by my client."

"I've made mistakes as we all have. Though I'm trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go. I came of age in the '60s and '70s, when everything about behaviour and workplaces was different," Sir Toby stated. "Still, this witch-hunt of the NYPD's astounds me. I've never taken issue with any of my advances being rejected. I fully intend to fight these allegations and clear my name."

Half listening to the words, Rafael's attention was pulled to the background. Seeing what could easily be a goldmine, he smirked.

"Care to share, Counsellor?" Liv said, confused by Rafael's mood swing.

"Damn, Toby is cold," he chuckled. He rewinded the TV. "Nobody sees it?"

Fin stepped forward, analyzing The TV. "He taped that statement in the same room he did Pilar."

"Exactly," Rafael said. "But there's more than that."

"Just another way to punk us," Rollins said.

Rafael smirked. "Or maybe he finally screwed up."

"Maybe," Carisi said. "What are you thinking, Counsellor?"

Rafael turned to Rollins. "Detective, you got Pilar's audition?"

She nodded.

"Good. Throw it up on the screen it, please."

"Son of a bitch," Rollins said.

"What do you notice, Detective?" Rafael said smirking.

"Different couch. Pillows. Lamp," the blonde listed off. "He was afraid that we were gonna get a warrant, so he swapped them out."

"Precisely," he said. "The halfwit." He smirked. "If we can't get him for the crime we can nail him for the cover-up."

"So, when did he have time to do that?" Fin asked.

He turned to Fin. "Take Carisi and get me that building's security footage." He poured himself another cup of coffee. "I'll Have the subpoena sent to you by the time you arrive."

Fin nodded. "On it, Counsellor."

He turned to Liv, as the two men left the room. "Talk to Ms. Reyes again. See if she'll testify to coercion on the NDA." He sighed. "Wish me luck with getting that subpoena."

She kissed him, knowing it was just Rollins there. "Good luck."


	71. Chapter 71

Not wanting to waste any time now that they'd played all their cards with Sir Toby Moore who was likely now going to go out of his way to make things more difficult, Rafael went straight to Judge Murphy.

Thankfully, Judge Murphy was sympathetic with Rafael being between a rock and a hard place and signed off on what Rafael needed immediately.

While Rollins reviewed the footage, Rafael called to let Lucy know that they'd be running quite late due to work, but his mother would be stopping by to stay with Noah for a bit so Lucy could go home at a reasonable time.

Getting that security footage was hands down the best move Rafael had made during the entire case so far. Finally, something was going right.

"So, here's Pilar!" Rollins said. "Friday evening, 7:00 p.m. She's entering Sir Toby's building." She fast-forwarded. "Now this is Pilar an hour later. She's in the lobby. She's in tears. Her clothes are a mess. And we've all seen this as she's exiting his office, but then we skip ahead to Sunday night, 11:55 p.m. This is his assistant Cindy. She's supervising three movers as they pull the new couch out of a truck. Ten minutes later they're pulling out Sir Toby's old couch and lamp."

The Sergeant spoke up. "Good luck finding those."

"Might not need to," Rafael said. "Why cover up a crime that never happened? I can get a jury to make that leap. Easily."

"This is a specialty cleaning crew at 6:00 a.m. on Monday!" Rollins continued, deliberately raising her voice to get the men's attention again. "At 7:45 a.m., Sir Toby and Cindy walk in. She stays downstairs, and ten minutes later, on the march."

Olivia's jaw dropped. "A former U. S. Attorney for the Southern District, a former Attorney General. Wow. Cabinet member, Deputy Mayor. I've heard of power teams, but this -"

"Is why I said the Commissioner'll have my job," Rafael said. He gestured to the screen. "This honestly doesn't surprise me, unfortunately."

"It gets worse," Rollins informed them. "Fifteen minutes later, look who walks in. Hilary Hassler of Conviction Integrity and half of the eighth floor. They're going into Toby's office."

"Why, to kiss his ring?" Carisi said.

"To destroy Pilar's credibility," Olivia said.

Fin nodded. "Like I said, he's got this whole game rigged."

"He very well may, but we have his assistant on tape destroying evidence," Rafael said. "Put pressure on her."

The lieutenant nodded. "You heard the man. Bring her in."

His phone dinged. "It's the D.A." He sighed. "Call me the second you have anything." Hopefully, this would open the door they needed. At this point applying for the bench and not having to deal with these messes any longer was looking better and better.

The conversation with McCoy went about as well as he expected, but it could have gone a lot worse. The only saving grace was them finding out about the mess with Gemma before Moore got to her and her involvement became public.

With that dealt with, he tried to catch up on as many work emails and calls from his ADAs as possible. Thankfully, there were no major issues. Several deals were in the works, a couple of convictions, one acquittal, a couple of charges dropped, but nothing overly problematic. It was a relief. He really didn't need more stress right now.

Eventually, he got a call from Liv, letting him know that the assistant had flipped almost immediately on her boss when Fin interrogated her, pointing out she could be charged herself and that the women he assaulted had trusted her. That was another relief to Rafael. The more people they could get to turn on the bastard, the better.

He also found out that Olivia had asked Rollins contact vice and Olivia and Fin would be meeting with the woman who would be going undercover the following morning.

Going back to his reports, he poured himself a coffee and tried to catch up on most of his work as he'd been so preoccupied with the Tobias Moore case.

It's was half-past ten at night when Rafael finally walked into his home. Olivia wasn't home yet either, dealing with Chief Dodds and her own stack of paperwork.

He kissed his mother. "Hola, Mami. ¿Qué tal tu noche?" (Hi, Mami. How was your night?)

"Bien, Mijo," she replied, giving him a small smile. "Mejor que el tuyo. Lucy hizo la tarea de Noah con él, así que cenamos, vimos una película y comimos rositas de maíz." (Fine, Mijo. Better than yours. Lucy did Noah's homework with him, so we just had dinner, watched a movie and ate popcorn.)

"Mentiría si dijera que no estoy un poco envidioso," he said, rubbing his temple. He had a migraine from this mess. (I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit jealous.)

"Ve a tomar tu medicamento y siéntate y trata de relajarte," she said. "This too shall pass, Mijo." (Go take your meds, sit down, and try to relax.)

He shrugged noncommittally. "¿Qué hiciste para cenar?" (What did you make for dinner?)

"Arroz con salchichas," she said, "acompañado de plátanos maduros fritos." (Rice with sausage and a side of fried sweet plantains.)

"Eres increíble, Mami," he said. "Honestamente." (You're amazing, Mami. Honestly.)

"Así me dijeron," she quipped. "¿Ha decidido si solicitará ese puesto?" (So I've been told. Have you made up your mind about applying for that job opening?)

"El papeleo ya está lleno," Rafael admitted, "pero no estoy seguro. Es un mal momento. Primero quiero hablar con Olivia." (The paperwork's filled out, but I'm not sure. It's a bad time. I want to talk to Olivia first.)

With everything going on with the D.A's Office now wasn't the best time for him to be applying, and a part of him was still scared. He'd made more than a few mistakes in the past. He didn't want to apply and hear the rejection.

Still, he'd worked extremely hard since returning to the D.A's Office, trying to prove himself. He chance of rejection was small, but the thought of actually hearing 'no' put a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

His mother looked at him. "Este ha sido tu objetivo durante mucho tiempo." (This has been what you've wanted for a long time.)

"Sí," he agreed, "pero conozco a otro juez que se jubilará el próximo año. Siempre puedo aplicar entonces." (Yes, but I know another judge who's retiring next year. I can always apply then.)

She nodded. "Estaré orgullosa de ti sin importar lo que decidas." (I'll be proud of you no matter what you decide.)

A lump appeared in his throat. "Gracias, Mami."

"Ve a comer," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder and leading him to the kitchen, "y luego habla con tu esposa." (Go eat, and then talk to your wife.)


	72. Chapter 72

The next day was a series of meetings with higher-ups and defence attornies and numerous other things demanding his attention.

He hadn't had time to talk to Olivia yet about applying for the judgeship, but he'd have to soon. The Senate Judiciary Committee wasn't going to wait on his decision much longer. He was still torn though, despite the fact that it was something he'd wanted for so long.

Rafael was getting more and more stressed and ended up snapping slightly at Carmen - who told him to take a walk and cool off. He took her advice, turning off his phone momentarily, and walked to a nearby coffee shop, trying to think of anything but the mess going on.

Once back at the office, Rafael gave her a bottle of her favourite soda and candy, and apologized to Carmen, before diving into his ridiculous pile of reports. Olivia had given him more than a few new DD5s to go through.

Thankfully, things took a turn for the better and he finally got called down to the 16th precinct. Which was why Rafael now found himself sitting in Olivia's office while the squad showed him the footage of the undercover operation that had taken place earlier that evening. They'd successfully been able to arrest the bastard, and Rafael was confident he'd be able to make the charges stick this time.

The first part of the day being as insanely busy as it had been, he was glad that something was going right. He knew he was likely in for a very long - continuously dragged out - trial, but it was worth it in his opinion. The man couldn't get away with what he was doing to all these women.

_"When I look at you I don't see the wheelchair," the vice agent, Katriona Tamin, said. She'd succeeded in getting the audition with Moore. "I see the man I love."_

_"You know, I'm gonna stop you right there," Sir Toby said, "because 'cause acting, well, it's it's not about words, it's about choices."_

_"You're right."_

_"Now you made a very brave choice auditioning for the lead in this movie," Sir Toby said, "which I think you're a bit green for." He paused, taking a step forward. "But I have an idea. There's another part in the film. A smaller role, of course. It's a woman, very integral to the movie, who's put upon by men. Humiliated, do anything to get on." Another step forward. "Well, basically she's a whore."_

_The vice agent looked slightly anxious. "Um, does she have lines in the script?"_

_"Well," Sir Toby said, "that would depend on how we improvise together, providing you're willing to do that."_

_"Of course," the vice agent said, "You just tell me what you want."_

_"No," Sir Toby said, "it's not what I want. it's what you want." He was directly in front of her now. "Well, actually, it's what you need. Because you do need to get your first part in a movie, don't you?"_

_"Yes. Very much."_

He flipped the script on her. Damn. At least he knew she came out of it fine.

_The creep looked at her. "So, why don't you stand up."_

_"Okay."_

_"Just turn around."_

_"Yeah," she said, doing exactly as asked._

_Sir Toby nodded. "Now, we'll walk towards that door over there."_

He was corning her. Rafael knew it.

_"Okay, stop there," Sir Toby ordered, successfully cornering her. "Now put your hands up against like medium height in the window." Damn, the man wasn't even hesitating. "You know, as if he's attacking you from behind. You smell fantastic. You know that? You really do." There was a grunt as he leaned in right up against her. "You know what I'm gonna do to you, don't you?"_

_"I don't want to do this," the vice agent said hoarsely. _

_"You don't?" Sir Toby said, "Well, I do." _

_"Get your hands off me." She struggled slightly. "__Let go." Still struggling slightly. "__Ow. __You're hurting me."_

_"I'm not hurting you." The man leaned in, putting his mouth right by her ear. "__In five years' time, believe me, love, it's the only way you're gonna want it."_

_The agent called out. "Hey!" She tried again to push him off, but he overpowered her, putting a hand around her throat. "__You will not open your mouth until I tell you to."_

_She struggled slightly, and he loosened his hold. "You're choking me." She struggled again. "You're choking me."_

_"Am I choking you?" the man said coldly._

_"I can't breathe."_

_"You can't breathe?" he said. "Really, you can't breathe?"_

_"Please." _

_Sir Toby let her go. "__Come here. Come here!_

"Stop!" the agent said forcefully, pushing him again.

_Sir Toby tried to regain control but Olivia had ordered the detectives to go in, despite the vice agent not saying her codeword: Bastard. _He'd laughed when he learned what she'd picked. How... fitting.

"_NYPD," Carisi said. "Step away from her."_

_Sir Toby looked stunned. "What the hell?"_

_"Tobias Moore," Olivia said, "you're under arrest."_

_"What," Sir Toby scoffed, "for auditioning?" The man laughed. "This is a farce."_

Seeing everything he needed to see, he closed the laptop. He looked at Olivia, amused. "The satisfaction was written all over your face."

She looked at him. "I saw no reason to hide it." A snicker. "In the wise words of one Kat Tamin_, 'The harder they come the harder they fall.'"_

He chuckled lightly. "And I'm going to enjoy every second of it."

She smirked. "And I'm going to enjoy watching you destroy him in court."

He took a sip of his coffee. "First I need to go get that arraignment." He put his coffee down and pulled her in for a kiss. "See you at home, Cariño."

Thankfully, he'd been able to get an arraignment hearing the following afternoon, with very little issue. Jack McCoy at least had backed off some now that he knew Rafael had an extremely strong case and the worst of it was over.

"Counsellor," Rollins said as the squad walked up, "how are things looking?"

"Honestly," he said, "Moore's looking at bail and the defence will try to drag it out for as long as possible. We'll get him though. Sooner or later."

Walking towards the courtroom he noticed they were surrounded by a sea of women. With Tobias Moore's arrest, it looked like the floodgates opened. He took a better look around, Liv doing the same thing, and noticed most of the women were holding signs - letting everyone know that Moore assaulted them as well. They said things like '#MeToo' or 'Sir Toby assaulted me.' A lot of the women stated they weren't allowed to talk because of Moore's NDAs.

As they reached the door to the courtroom, Ms. Reyes got Olivia's attention. She was smiling but looked to be fighting back tears. "Thank you for believing me."

"Of course," Olivia said, giving the woman a small smile back.

As he walked threw the doors of that courtroom any doubts or hesitation Rafael had over his decision faded away.

"People vs. Tobias Moore. Two counts of Rape in the First Degree and one account of attempted rape."

Judge Lisa Peck looked down at Rafael. "Mr. Barba, you certainly have a knack for keeping my life interesting."

He opened his arms wide, smirking. "I do try, Your Honour."

The judge rolled her eyes, amused. "Mr. Moore, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty, Your Honour."

"Very well," the judge said, "the case is set over for trial, pending motions.

He looked at the judge. "We waive motions, Your Honour. We're ready to proceed to trial."

The judge nodded. "People on bail?"

"Remand, Your Honour," he stated. "The defendant poses a risk to his previous victims and has the financial means to flee. He also has ties all over the country. We believe he's a flight risk."

"Your Honour," Counsellor Barth said, "my client has extensive ties to the community and has stated publicly that he is ready to show up at trial and fight these false allegations."

"That public statement was a televised attack on the victims," Rafael sneered.

"This is the state's attempt to control public outrage."

"The only thing that needs control is Moore's behaviour," Rafael sneered. "He's attacked numerous women and threatened and abused his status to coerce multiple signings of NDAs to force their silence."

"Save it for the trial, Counsellors!" the judge said.

He took a deep breath. "Your Honour," Rafael said. "This man is very well connected and is a threat to public safety."

Judge Peck glanced right at the defendant, assessing him. "I happen to agree, Mr. Barba. I'm granting remand."

Rafael couldn't help the smug look that appeared on his face as the gavel came down and court adjourned. Looking around at numerous victims who were crying with relief that he was off the streets confirmed Rafael's earlier choice.

He wasn't ready to be sitting on the bench, on the sidelines. He wanted to be on the front lines being the one getting these victims justice. As he'd told his mother, other appointments would come up, but for now, he was right where he needed to be.

"Executive ADA Barba and I want to thank the NYPD for helping our office send a message that it doesn't matter how rich or powerful you are, sexual assault will not be tolerated in New York City," the District Attorney said.

"Anthony, can you please turn this down?"

"Well, at least you're safe now," Liv said. "It's all good." She looked at him. "You okay?"

"Never been better," he said wryly. Then something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He snorted, gesturing in the man's general direction. "It looks like we have company."

His wife glanced behind her to see who he was looking at. "Chief Dodds."

The chief grinned. "Just the two people I was looking for."

Rafael's curiosity was piqued. "To what do we owe the pleasure, Chief?"

"Well, for starters, Counsellor," the deputy chief said, "I wanted to congratulate you. A remand." He looked at Rafael. "I have no idea how you did it, but keep that judge on your side. Right now the public loves you. You may actually get this conviction."

Rafael kept a neutral expression. "The vote of confidence is appreciated, sir."

The older man nodded, quickly ordering a drink. "The second thing is... I apparently owe you a thank you, Counsellor."

"No need to thank me, Chief," Rafael said. "We were all hanging on by a thread."

Now Liv's curiosity was piqued. "Oh?"

"The powers that be had decided that I couldn't be trusted to work with the DA's office going forward, but apparently -" He gestured to Rafael. "Your husband persuaded them that bringing this case was the right thing to do." The man gave Olivia a sideways smile. "Still, one more case like this and I have no doubt I'll find myself sent to Coventry."

"I wouldn't let that happen," Olivia said.

Dodds chuckled. "I've had a good run. And it's not time for you to stick your neck out."

Olivia scoffed. "I'll be the judge of that."

"No," Chief Dodds said with a shake of his head. "You've still got work to do, and gas in the tank." He turned more towards her, having taken a seat now that his drink had arrived. "It'd be a wasted sacrifice, _Captain." _Liv's eyes went wide and Rafael could only grin. "I may have put a good word in. Consider it an apology for past mistakes."

Rafael spoke softly. "Congratulations, Liv."

Olivia looked at the older man. "You're a good man, William Dodds."

Dodds smiled warmly now. "You are a class act, Olivia Benson." He raised his glass, Rafael mirroring the action. "Long may you run."


	73. Chapter 73

It came as no surprise to Rafael that the Tobias Moore case had motion hearing after motion hearing. The defence didn't want it going to trial just yet and Rafael knew from experience just why. More often than not, the longer a trial took, the better it was for the defence.

Still, most of the motions were nonsensical, and nothing complicated things for Rafael too drastically, especially considering the wave of people now coming forward as witnesses or victims. Moore's assistant was being exceptionally cooperative now as well, admitting she knew full well what was going on behind closed doors.

The courts would get tired of granting continuances eventually. That meant Rafael just had to wait it out and prepare his witnesses as best as possible.

On the other hand, things had largely turned to normal, although Olivia had officially been sworn in as a captain. The higher-ups had finally backed off, content that things were going to their benefit. The District Attorney's Office was looking quite good in the public eye right now. Man, he hated politics sometimes.

With that being said, it was work as usual in the D.A's Office.

"Ms. Jackson," Rita said, "you started dating Mr. Miller towards the end of last April. Is that correct?"

"Yes," the sixteen-year-old girl said.

"And he's not in your class?" Rita said. "He's one grade higher?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

The Defence Attorney nodded. "And what was his reputation at school?"

"Objection," Rafael called out, feigning boredom. "Relevancy."

"Overruled." Judge Cohen looked at Rita. "But, tread carefully Ms. Calhoun."

Rita gave a curt nod to the judge and proceeded with her questioning. Essentially arguing that this was all made up for attention and the young girl just regretted sleeping with her boyfriend because her parents found out as well as lashing out after a bad breakup.

The defendant, Matthew Miller was charged with aggravated sexual assault and another count of sexual assault of his then-girlfriend. The boy held all the blame, but the trial had quickly turned into a victim-blaming session, which was, unfortunately, all too common.

At least, Ms. Jackson had done well during the initial testifying and had handled herself reasonably well during the cross-examination. He felt fairly confident he'd be able to recover from most of the damage.

"Matthew," Rafael said calmly, having taken his place in the middle of the room. "How would you describe your relationship with Joyce?"

"Difficult," the seventeen-year-old said. "She was clingy. Jealous. Controlling."

"Is that so?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes."

Rafael eyed the boy. "She was the one who was controlling?"

"Yes," the boy said. "Did I not just say that?"

He kept a neutral expression, moving to show a series of text messages on the screen. All asking where she was, what she was doing, getting angry when there wasn't a quick response. He had the defendant read them all allowed.

"Do you consider that controlling behaviour, Matthew?" Rafael asked, not unkindly. He wanted to kid to drop his guard some.

"I suppose."

"Who sent those text messages, Matthew?"

"I did."

Rafael nodded. "Why?"

"She was a tease," the defendant stated simply. "I couldn't trust her."

"Please explain."

"She'd flirt," the defendant said, "but she'd never let us go any farther than kissing."

He inwardly smirked. He had the kid right where he wanted him. Looking at the boy, he asked, "And this frustrated you?"

The boy didn't hesitate. "Yes. She was my girlfriend." He took a deep breath. "I felt like she had one foot out the door."

Rafael at the kid and spoke to the jury quite clearly and deliberately. "Or maybe Joyce was a scared sixteen-year-old girl who just wasn't ready." He tried to put on a friendlier expression as he asked the next question. "Have you been in trouble before, Matthew?"

The boy swallowed nervously. "Yes, sir. I was put in a support program to help me adjust better. I was having difficulties."

"Objection!" Rita called out. "Where are you going with this?"

He looked at the judge. "It'll become clear quickly, Your Honour."

The judge eyed him. "I'll allow it. Within reason."

He nodded, turning back to the defendant. "Mr. Miller, it true that you had previously been adjudicated as a delinquent on, not one, but six other occasions?"

"Yes, but -"

"And it's also true that you've been on probation," Rafael stated, "which you proceeded to violate - with little regard to the consequences."

The boy was wide-eyed. "That wasn't my fault."

"Okay," Rafael said, "but, that attitude reappeared when you resisted and spit on your arresting officer's face."

The defendant eyed Rafael. "I was scared."

Rafael nodded. "That's completely understandable." It was, honestly. That didn't change the situation, however. He took a step closer to the defendant. "So, let's walk through the afternoon in question." He glanced at his notes, just for show. "You were high."

"Yes. I'd smoked some weed I'd got off a friend."

Rafael nodded. "You were in the living room, chatting, and then decided to go up to your bedroom to play a video game."

A curt nod. "Yes, sir."

"However, you didn't end up playing the game?"

"No. Instead started making out," the boy said. "It just kinda happened."

"Alright, then what happened?"

"Things got heated," the boy said. "She said she wanted to take things a little farther."

"She did?"

"Yes."

"Where were her hands during all this?"

"Above her head."

"Humour me," he said, giving the boy a small smile to get him to relax some. "How were they positioned exactly? Show me, if you don't mind."

"Fine," the boy grumbled. "Like this." He immediately put his hands in a position that fit with someone being pinned down.

"Who put her hands like that?"

"I don't know," the boy said, "I had my mind on other things."

"I'll ask again, Mr. Miller," he said, "who put Joyce's hands in that position?"

The boy gulped. "Me, but she was fine."

Rafael picked up a piece of paper off the desk. "He took off my clothes, pinning me down, and forced himself on me. I told him 'no' and tried to push him off. I tried to bite him and asked him to stop, but he didn't."

"She asked me to slow down," the boy said, "that's all."

He snorted. "Did she? Or is that what you wanted to hear?" He glanced at the judge. "Nothing else for this witness, Your Honour."

The defence wasn't coming back from this.

He grabbed lunch at Forlini's, mentally going over what he wanted to do for closing arguments when it was time for him to go back to the courthouse.

He'd been halfway through his meal, having ordered the grilled pork chops and penne, when he heard a voice that he hadn't heard in a long time but would recognize anywhere. "Hola, Guapo."

He froze, his mind going a million miles a minute. "Yelina," he said, somehow managing to find his voice.

"It's been a long time."

He nodded, forcing a smile. "It has." He looked at her a moment, and then licked his lips nervously. "¿Qué haces aquí, Mamá?" (What are you doing here, Mamá?)

He wasn't stupid. He knew full well she came out of the woodworks because she wanted something from him. He might have given her the benefit of the doubt if she hadn't tried to be emotionally manipulative the second a word even left her mouth... calling him that, after all this time... really?

"¡Papi, no seas así!" she replied, taking a seat beside him. "I heard that congratulations are in order." (Papi, don't be like that!)

"Gracias," he said earnestly, but not dropping hid guard any. "Mi pequeña familia es bastante increíble." (Thank you. My little family's pretty incredible.)

She tilted her head in a half-nod, a warm smile playing on her lips. "Me alegro. Te lo mereces." (I'm glad. You deserve it.)

He shot her a small smile in return, out of habit more than anything. He had really cared for her once. She'd changed. He supposed they all had. "Gracias." He took a slow deliberate sip of his drink. "¿Tu esposo sabe que estás aquí?" (Thanks. Does your husband know that you're here?)

"Tu relación con él no necesita dictar la nuestra, Rafi." (Your relationship with him doesn't have to dictate ours.)

"Entendido." Not that he expected her to tell Alex, but it made him even more curious now about why she sought him out. (Understood.)

"Rafael -"

He looked at her and sighed. As much as he'd like to believe she wanted their friendship back, he was wary. She'd thrown it away so easily, and both her and Alex had shown they'd changed. And not for the better. "¿Qué quieres, Yelina?" (What do you want, Yelina?)

"Ya te dije." (I already told you.)

Not satisfied with her answer, he repeated the question. This time, however, it came out more harshly. "¿Qué quieres?"

She winced at his tone. "Lamento la forma en que todo terminó," she said, looking at him. She looked so sincere he could almost buy it. Almost. He wasn't going to let his guard down around her just yet. "Solo estabas haciendo tu trabajo." (I'm sorry about the way things ended. You were just doing your job.)

He nodded. "Hablando de mi trabajo, necesito volver a la pincha." (Speaking of my job, I need to go back to work.)

Not giving her much time to respond, he got up and while rummaging through his wallet, he went up to pay Anthony for the food, ignoring Yelina.

Thankfully, while he was doing that, she kept largely to herself, apparently not wanting a public scene. Still, she wasn't going to let him go that easily.

"Hay una fiesta este viernes," Yelina said. "Me gustaría que vinieras." (There's a party on Friday. I'd like it if you came.)

He gave her a wistful smile, loosing his tentative grip on his emotions. "Quizás la próxima vez pienses en eso antes de tirar una amistad de tantos años." (Maybe next time you'll think of that before you throw away so many years of friendship.)

"Rafael -"

"No te molestes," he said, tone harsh as he forced himself to meet her gaze. "¿Solo soy un vendido celoso, no? ¿No es eso lo que le dijiste a tu esposo?" (Don't bother. I'm just a jealous sellout, right? Isn't that what you told your husband?)

Taking a deep breath, he shoved his wallet back in his pants and headed to the door, not looking back. He knew that door had to stay closed. As much as he cared about her growing up, and still did in a way, this lady wasn't the young woman he'd known.

He also noticed she only showed up again once it was well established that he was moving up the ranks at the D.A's Office. She probably just thought he could be useful to her. The same as Alex had when he'd walked into Rafael's office that day, pulling Rafael into an ugly mess of Alex's own making.

When jury deliberations were finally called that afternoon, Rafael was feeling quite confident about the case. At least one of the charges would stick.

Back at his office, dealing with work emails, his attention was pulled to a knock on the door. He quickly closed his laptop. "Come in!"

"Sorry, Mr. Barba," Carmen said, "but she insisted on talking to you." Standing right beside her was Matthew's mother.

He waved Carmen's concerns off. "It's fine. Give us a moment, please."

"Of course, sir," Carmen said, moving to close the door behind her.

He turned to the visitor. "Mrs. Miller, how can I help you?"

"Drop the charges."

He looked at the woman. "You know I can't do that." He stood up, moving to the other side of his desk. "Your son has to face the consequences for his actions."

She looked at him, trying not to cry. "It'll ruin him."

"How would you feel if you were in Joyce's shoes?" he asked calmly.

"I'd want someone to fight for me. To believe me," she whispered.

He sighed. "If you really want to help your son, tell him to take this lesson to heart. Help him see where he went wrong."

She wiped her eyes. "I'll... I'll go now. Sorry for bothering you."

As she walked away, he poured himself a coffee and went for a walk down the street, needing a bit of fresh air.

Two hours later the verdict came in. Matthew Miller had been found not guilty of aggravated sexual assault but guilty on the one count of sexual assault.

Judge Cohen nodded. "Members of the Jury, this Court dismisses you and thanks you for your service. The defendant will be remanded to Horizon Juvenile Center pending sentencing."

The courtroom exploded both fathers getting down each other's throats. Both teenagers and mothers crying or perilously close to.

Gathering his stuff, he made his way over to where Liv was standing "That was rough."

"She's a strong kid," he said. "She'll be ok."

Liv gave him a small smile. "I hope you're right."

He looked at her. "I am." He squeezed her hand. "Let's go home."

"Pizza night?"

Neither of them was in the mood to cook.

He nodded. "Pizza night."


	74. Chapter 74

The next couple of days passed in a haze of hearings, meetings, a parent-teacher interview at Noah's school, and preparation for another event he was helping Liv throw together. He'd also been asked to help with a move by Eddie, whose girlfriend was officially moving in with him. He'd also made the step of officially filing for divorce, which Rafael knew was a huge step for Eddie.

Although things were calming down, work was still keeping Rafael as busy as ever, which was how Rafael found himself enclosed in his office on a Tuesday morning, hitting the books, when his phone rang. He didn't recognize the caller's number, but he immediately answered it, regardless. "Hello. Executive ADA Rafael Barba speaking."

"Mr. Barba," the woman on the other end said. "I'm glad you answered."

Rafael's jaw dropped when he register who the voice on the other end belonged to. "Judge Linden, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I actually wanted to ask you and Olivia to come by my chambers this afternoon, at say, five o'clock," the judge explained.

He blinked, confused. "Of course. May I ask why?"

"An emergency placement," the judge stated. "I felt it worth reaching out to the pair of you right off the get-go."

He swallowed. "We'll be there."

"I'll see you then."

After that phone call, Rafael found himself more than a little distracted. After trying to focus on the stack of reports, or anything really, he decided to call it an early lunch.

After lunch, he went to a motion to suppress hearing for the Tobias Moore case and had an always enjoyable meeting with McCoy and Dodds. The judge ruled in Rafael's favour during the motion hearing, thankfully, and as for the meeting with the Deputy Chief and District Attorney, it went a lot smoother than a couple of their past meetings had, so he wasn't about to complain about that.

He spoke with Olivia briefly that afternoon, but she was busy dealing with a mess of a domestic, among other things. The squad room was a madhouse when he called, and you could only hear person after person screaming in the background.

As for that mess of a domestic, Rafael eventually had to pay a visit to the accused with the sergeant to cut a deal. The wife refused to cooperate, but he wanted at least some sort of punishment or something on the record that would allow for more serious charges in the future.

He gave his usual offer in these crappy situations. Community service and after six months, if the husband didn't re-offend, it'd all be dropped.

Chances were extremely likely he'd never make it even close to that six months. Actually, Rafael was counting on it.

Eventually, it was time to run down to Family Court.

"I'm still not sure what to think about this," he said, walking into step beside Olivia.

Olivia looked at him. "Me either, but we should hear her out."

"It's not that I don't agree," he said, "but is this something you'd even want to do?"

"I wouldn't be opposed," she said carefully.

He nodded. "If she's serious about this, we have the room, Rafa.

Rafael gave a curt nod. "You're right." He paused. "We could tear up that second bath and move my study in there." He made a vague gesture to nothing in particular. "We'd still have one full bath and a half bath."

"I was thinking the same thing."

He rubbed his forehead. "How would we explain it to Noah?"

She sighed. "Honestly, tell him the truth. He did fine learning about his own adoption and when Gabriela stayed with us."

He nodded, and, not knowing what else to say, opened the door to the judge's chambers, hopefully about to get some answers.

Walking into the chambers the first thing to catch Rafael's eye was the social worker, Chantal Jackson, holding a clearly latina child that looked to be a couple of weeks old at the most.

Judge Linden looked at them. "Her name's Sofía. Sofía Gutiérrez."

Liv blinked. "As in Victor Gutiérrez, the BX9 Lieutenant who got caught up in that shootout that was just on the news?"

"The one in Harlem last night?"

One woman had died along with two other people. Six others, including four federal agents, were in the hospital after the shooting.

"The very one," the judge said. "The father died in the crossfire and the mother passed away in the hospital." She sighed. "Any relatives we can locate have either previously been declared unfit or are currently in police custody." She looked between both of them. "And that brings me to why I've called you here."

Rafael spoke up. "You mentioned an emergency placement on the phone?"

"Yes," the judge confirmed. "I would like to place the child in a home environment as soon as possible."

"How long are emergency placements for?" Liv asked.

The judge sighed. "Until we can find a more permanent placement." She glanced between both of them. "Realistically we are looking at anywhere from days to months." A pause. "She's eight-weeks-old. Are you willing to take her?"

Olivia glanced at the baby girl and looked back at Rafael, eyes filled with an unasked question. Knowing her well, he nodded.

A small smile creased her lips in recognition. "And if we wanted it to be a more permanent arrangement?"

The judge smiled. "Then I propose the same deal as with Noah. I will order Sofía into your care as custodial parents for one year, at which time you will be given the option to permanently adopt her." She looked between the both of them again, hands on her desk. "Do you both agree?"

He looked at the judge and nodded. "We would love to take Sofía in."

"Then I'll sign over guardianship right now," the judge said without hesitation.

After the decision was made and they were in the clear to take Sofía home, they both decided to call in and take the next day off to spend at home and give them some time to adjust as a family. Olivia also requested the following two days, which Dodds thankfully agreed to cover.

Rafael had court both days. however, so he'd be going to work regardless. But he explained things to McCoy and essentially would be working from home when not physically needed in court. It was the best he could do under the time constraint.

They'd also called Rollins to see if she still had an extra infant car seat. She'd been a lifesaver and dropped everything to bring them one so that they could leave the courthouse. What they hadn't expected was for the small box of other baby supplies that Rollins was apparently no longer using.

They were grateful, to say the least.

Rafael had been beyond terrified to hold Sofia for the first time, not knowing how to hold an infant, but picked it up quickly enough once Olivia calmly showed him how, walking him through it. She was just so small and fragile.

If Rafael had had any hesitation, however, it vanished when he was buckling her in and she grabbed onto his finger, little green eyes sparkling with pure joy as she watched Liv make silly faces for her personal amusement.

Olivia took a picture of the pair, the look on Rafael's face absolutely priceless. "Looks like someone's got you wrapped around their little finger."

He grinned. "It's not my fault she's so damn cute, Liv."

She chuckled. "What do you say we go get some shopping done, so we can take this little home and have some dinner?"

He rolled his eyes. "And here I was thinking we'd just stay in the middle of the parking lot here permanently."

Now it was Olivia's turn to roll her eyes. "You're always bringing the jokes."

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "And you'd have it no other way."


	75. Chapter 75

The shopping trip for baby supplies took a bit longer than he expected. Thankfully, Olivia had a better idea of what babies needed, because Rafael wasn't particularly helpful on that front. Most of it he already knew, but there were more than few things that would never of even crossed his mind if it hadn't been for her.

They grabbed some bottles, formula, soothers, diapers, numerous onesies, several swaddle blankets, burp cloths, a pair of hooded baby towels, three cotton blankets couple of toys, a changing mat, a baby carrier, and a video baby monitor. At least they has a few other odds and ends already from Rollins and the playpen and other odd thing or two Olivia had kept from when Noah was a baby.

While looking at onesies, Sofía had been a little fussy, but Liv had managed to get her to calm down and fall asleep before passing her to Rafael as she'd had the little girl for most of their not-so-little excursion.

Now they were looking at beds. They'd looked at a few bassinets before settling on a cherry wood, 4-in-1 convertible, crib with changer attached. The fact it converted just made it a lot more practical in the long term.

"Anything else we need?" he asked, swaying slightly to soothe the baby as Sofia had woken up a bit cranky due to the noise.

"No," Olivia said, "nothing that can't wait until later."

"Then," he said, "let's get this little one home. Qué piensas, Princesa?" (What do you think, Princess?)

Sofía gave a little yawn, causing Liv to laugh softly. "I think she agrees. I can't say I blame her." She gently stroked Sofia's head. "The little sleepyhead."

He chuckled lightly, looking down at the adorable sleepy bundle in his arms. "Nuestra pequeña dormilona puede dormir todo lo que quiera." (Our little sleepyhead can sleep all she wants.)

Loading everything into the two cars, they made their way home.

Olivia then took Sofía into the house and Rafael set up the playpen in the living room, while Lucy, curiosity written all over her face, helped to bring everything in.

"Thanks for all the help, Lucy!"

"It's nothing, Rafael," Lucy said. "Although when you said you'd be home late I didn't think another child was involved."

He gave a little snort. "I was just as surprised as you are. That was one call I was not expecting to get today."

Noah had been watching a show on Olivia's iPad, so once they had things slightly settled they brought him out, Lucy making her escape after a short discussion with both of them by the end of which she'd enthusiastically agreed to look after the new baby.

The young boy was chatting excitedly about his day when his eyes landed on the little baby in Olivia's arms, currently working her way through a bottle of milk. "Who's that?"

"Her name is Sofía," Olivia said softly.

"Oh." Noah looked the baby over. "She's so little."

"She is," Rafael agreed. "Your mom and I actually wanted to talk to you about something regarding Sofía."

"What is it?" Noah asked curiously.

Olivia looked at Noah. "Sofía lost her parents. We were asked if she could stay with us for a while. Is that ok with you?"

Noah looked from the baby to Olivia. "Why?"

"She needs a home, Sweet boy," Olivia explained.

Noah nodded but looked a bit concerned about something, which didn't surprise the adults any. They knew everything had happened fast and could potentially upset Noah some.

Rafael got down to Noah's level. "You can talk to us, Mijo. You know that."

Noah mumbled under his breath.

"Sorry," Rafael said, "I missed that."

"I don't want things to change," Noah grumbled.

"Oh, Noah!" Olivia said, "sometimes change is a good thing, Sweetie. We might be a little bit busier with Sofía, but it'll always be 'Team Us.'"

Noah gave a crooked smile. "I like that team."

Olivia nodded, passing Sofía to Rafael to burp. "I do too, Noah."

"We love you so much, Noah," Rafael said. "Don't doubt that for a second."

"Papi's right," Liv said, pulling the young boy into a hug. "We love you so so much."

The young boy glanced at the baby. "Can I hold her?"

Olivia smiled. "Sure, Sweetie."

"You just have to support the head like this," Rafael said, "see." Watching Noah hold the baby was honestly adorable. "Good job. Just like that."

Noah giggled. "She's so tiny."

Rafael chuckled. "Yeah, she is."

Not much later Olivia started to get Sofía settled in her crib and Rafael was putting dinner on the table for everyone. Dinner was a quicker affair given the late hour and needing to get Noah to bed at a reasonable time.

With Noah in bed, they watched a little TV together on the couch before Sofía woke up a bit fussy. Rafael fed and burped her and then Olivia helped him figure out how to put a fresh diaper on properly.

He'd done fine and in no time the little tyke was back to sleep. Knowing they were both going to be waking up at all hours, they decided to call it a night and try to get as much rest as possible.

As to be expected, at least one of them was up every couple of hours with Sofía, taking alternating shifts so they'd both at least get some sleep. It was an adjustment but one that they were happy to make.

The next day Rafael was glad he'd booked the day off, so he could actually get Sofía's nursery properly done. Eddie had been a huge help on that score, and Lucy popped by to help Olivia a bit while Rafael was dealing with all the renovations and to spend some time with the baby.

By that night, they had Sofía's nursery done and set up - they weren't going to bother repainting it as it had been repainted white when they'd initially moved in - and had the former bathroom close to done. It was going to take another day or two. however, before it was completely finished, but at least the large bulk of the work was done. He felt he's done quite well given the fact that he felt like a walking zombie. Beyond exhausted. His mother stopped by for dinner actually, naturally having more than a few questions, and wanting to meet Sofía and see how everyone was doing. Sofia had had his mother wrapped around her little finger within minutes.

Noah had definitely come around to Sofía's presence as well and insisted on reading her a picture book and playing little games like peek-a-boo. It really was sweet.

All in all, they were happy with the choice they made. Still, Rafael would be lying if he didn't say he was already excited for when Sofía would actually sleep through the night.


	76. Chapter 76

Just over a week had passed since they brought Sofía home, which meant they were both back to work full time. Olivia got home quite late, and both kids were already fed, bathed, and fast asleep, for the time being, at least. Rafael was reading a book which he put done, standing up, when he heard Olivia walk into the room.

"How was the training?" he asked, giving her a quick kiss.

Chief Dodds had mandated the SVU squad's taking trauma-informed interview training, although Olivia and Carisi were the only ones to do it so far.

The technique was supposed to help elicit more information from victims who's memories or recall ability were affected by trauma.

"It was actually quite helpful," she said, "but tonight was a bit rough."

"Oh?"

"I was the one being interviewed," she said.

"Ah." He understood immediately. "Roleplay?" He gave her a weird look. "Well, for lack of a better term."

"Yeah," she said with a nod.

He squeezed her hand. "Want to talk about it?"

She'd been through a lot over the years, especially with the while Lewis fiasco, which Rafael still harboured some guilt for. He should have done his job better and had Lewis behind bars the first time. If he hadn't gotten off, he might not have ever gotten to Olivia. Still, it amazed him just how strong Olivia was, overcoming everything that had been thrown at her.

"Not really," she said. "I just did that." She sniffed. "What smells good?"

He smirked. "Dinner and a fresh pot of coffee."

"You're a god," she said, chuckling, "but please tell me you haven't downed too much coffee?"

He snorted. "I plead the fifth."

She rolled her eyes. "I'd give you trouble, but I could really use a cup myself right about now."

He looked at her, amused. "Let's go eat, shall we?"

"Lead the way," she replied. "I'm starving."

Rafael filled two plates up with food and took them out to Olivia who was sitting on the couch, picking a show for the two of them to watch.

They were on their second episode when each of them unwittingly passed out.

Rafael hadn't been out long when he heard crying on the baby monitor and, still exhausted, woke up.

Olivia moved to get up, but he gestured for her to sit back down. He kissed her on the forehead. "I've got Sofía. Go to bed."

She nodded. "I'll throw those in the dishwasher." She gestured to the dinner dishes. "Then I'll head up to bed." She yawned. "You have court tomorrow, though. You need some sleep. I'll take most of the night shifts tonight."

He squeezed her shoulder. "I'll be fine, Cariño mío. I was a full time law school student who worked part-time, and at one point did an internship." He smirked. "It's not the first time I've lived off caffeine. Nor do I suspect it'll be the last."

She swatted his arm playfully. "Ve y cuida a ella." (Go take care of her.)

He chuckled. "Yo soy, yo soy." (I am, I am.)

It took about an hour for Rafael to get Sofia settled down, and when his head hit the pillow he fell asleep almost instantly.

Walking into court the next morning for Jury Selection for the Tobias Moore case, Rafael was already working on his fourth coffee. It wasn't necessarily the most interesting part of the trial process but was quite important. Unfortunately, it could take up your entire day easily.

As for this particular case, it had taken until just before two o'clock for them to settle on a jury panel that they were both happy with.

He then ran back to his office, dealing with work e-mails and a call he missed from one of his ADAs. He'd finally got that dealt with, poured himself a cup of coffee, and sat down, when there was a knock on his door.

He sighed, not even looking up. "Come in." He yawned.

"Hey, Counsellor." It was Rollins, walking in with Carisi. "We've got a case for you."

He gave a vague gesture. "Fire away."

Rollins took the lead on explaining the mess that was the case.

Olivia had been called in to work that Saturday, unfortunately, and apparently that morning, Olivia had a young woman named Reagan James walk into the squad room, asking if it was Special Victims. Olivia said it was, and introduced herself. Ms. James gave her name, and Olivia asked if something had happened to her. The girl admitted instantly she had no idea; remembered nothing.

By all accounts, the girl was as a hard-partyer who took off her engagement ring while out with her friends. She then went into a ride-sharing car with the driver Besnick 'Nick' Pavlovic and another rider named Julius Gisbrecht.

During the ride, she took a handful of pills and fell asleep. The next day, she woke up in her bedroom with her clothes on. That was when she found her way to the SVU's precinct to report something had happened to her, but she wasn't sure what, although she eventually admitted she thought she was raped.

That was fine, he had nothing against the girl. Her choices were her own. However, the case caught fleas rather quickly.

During their questioning, the captain and Rollins learned Ms. James' ride-share trip took her to a bar in Sheepshead Bay. Olivia sent Fin and Carisi and Fin out to interview the driver and ride-share passenger. Meanwhile, Rollins took Ms. James to Mercy Hospital, where a doctor found evidence that she was held down and suffered injuries.

"Okay," Rafael said, exasperated, "so this girl claims she doesn't remember changing her route to Sheepshead Bay?"

"Well, her memories are coming back in pieces," Rollins said, "but we don't have the whole puzzle."

"There's no evidence that she was ever in the bar," Carisi added, "nothing on her phone indicates that she was meeting someone, and the cell got turned off at 1:20a.m. We also found grit in her shoes and bed, all consistent with the marinas in the area."

He hummed. "So, the working theory is she was assaulted by the passenger or the driver?"

"Or both," Rollins chimed in. "There were two semen samples, and her narrative is 'they,' 'them.' All plural."

"So they raped her under a boardwalk?"

"Well, she remembers being in a bed," Rollins said.

"It could've been a boat," Rafael said after a moment. "Clemente's is right by a marina."

Rollins gave him an eye roll. "Of course you'd know."

"You did a canvass?"

"The waterfront's dead after midnight," Carisi said, sounding exasperated himself.

"As for the rest of it," Rollins trailed off, "you're not going to like this next bit."

And Rollins was right. Damn it all.

During the investigation, the team ran into plenty of lies and misdirection, from both Ms. James and the perpetrators. Her friends and Ms. James herself admitted that she exaggerated and she preferred her more interesting versions of things as life was boring. She'd also admitted to having previously cheated on her fiancé.

Eventually, because Ms. James was actually very consistent and honest when it came to her rape, Olivia and the detectives reached the truth. They discovered that Ms. James was taken to a boat during the ride-share trip where she was gang raped by three men. They discovered the owner of the boat was restaurant owner Anthony Marino, who Gisbrecht used to work for. Gisbrecht called Marino from the ride-share care, and surveillance footage from the restaurant showed that a mysterious fourth man was there.

"So this guy, Gisbrecht, he gets into a car with a drunk girl, and he and the driver have two asshole friends they can call up at one o'clock in the morning for a gang rape?" he sneered. "What kind of animals are these bastards?"

Carisi snorted. "I asked the same damn thing, Counsellor. Anyways, there's more." He trailed off to give more explanation.

They informed Rafael that Gisbrecht admitted to knowing Marino, but the man demanded a lawyer before saying anything else. Pavlovic continued to keep his lies going, but Rollins eventually wore him down. They also brought Marino in, and he insisted he did not know what the other men wanted his boat for that night. Carisi and Fin demanded he help them try to find the fourth mystery man.

Olivia had successfully used the new interrogation techniques she learned from Dr. Hanover to help Ms. James remember some helpful details. She remembered one of the men had a tattoo on his arm, and had been able to describe it the captain. That information led the team to Frank Corso.

"We got Corso's DNA on the rape kit, and DNA puts all four of them on the boat," Carisi informed him.

"What's Corso saying?"

"Nothing new," Rollins said with a note of disdain. "The girl was wild. She couldn't get enough of him."

He snorted. "They never come up with anything original. And what about Anthony?"

Carisi sighed. "Still claiming he was never there. Also, his DNA is not in the rape kit."

He frowned. "Okay, and where are we with the driver and the passenger?"

"Nowhere, they both lawyered up, and they're digging into Raegan's past," Rollins admitted.

He sighed. "I have to be honest. I don't think Ms. James will hold up on the stand. Her credibility is damn near shot, she'll have a hard time getting sympathy from a jury." He shook his head. "She's clearly telling the truth, but they'll see her as a lier. A party girl trying to cover up yet another affair."

"The captain won't go for a deal," Rollins said, realizing where he was going with this.. "She's pretty adamant on fighting for Reagan."

He waved her concerns off. "I'll deal with, Liv. However, I really think her best bet for any justice at all is a deal. Moreover, she's already so traumatized... the hell the trial would put her through. It's cruel to do that to her knowing I won't get a conviction."

Carisi nodded. "Then our best bet is Anthony Marino. He is in the middle of a custody battle. He's got the most to lose."

Olivia was a bit difficult about cutting a deal but he eventually persuaded her it was for the best. He asked her how she honestly thought Ms. James would hold up on the stand, and got an 'I honestly don't know.' She'd caved easily after that admission.

Evan Braun had been retained to represent Anthony Marino, and the defence attorney tried his best to get Marino of completely. Despite Rafael getting Marino to admit to being there on the boat. Rafael had walked out of the room, deciding to play Braun's game and use it against him.

Back at SVU with Fin present, Rafael told Pavlovic and his lawyer that Marino said had he been there he would have stopped this. Pavlovic had been stunned and said, very adamantly, that Marino was there, that he was lying. He was there but couldn't get it up.

The lawyer told Pavlovic to hold on, saying that if they tell him what happened… Rafael interrupted, saying he would take it into consideration. She'd then nodded to Pavlovic to continue and Pavlovic explained this whole thing was his passenger's idea who called the boat guy and set it up. The boat guy called his friend. Pavlovic claimed he did not rape her. He insisted he did not touch her, but claimed he put her shoes back on and made sure she had her purse and phone instead. He simply drove her home. If he hadn't done that, the man pointed, who knew what would have happened to her.

Rafael told Pavlovic he believed him, and, swallowing the bile in his throat, told the man he thought he was the good guy in all this. He didn't particularly, but means to and end... Rafael handed him some papers and, having the man right where he wanted him, explained that he just needed Pavlovic to write out a statement.

Pavlovic readily agreed, and although the defence attorney looked at Rafael suspiciously, it was too late for them to do anything about it.

Within the hour he had all of them turning on each other, and they were all taking a plea. Braun really shouldn't have underestimated him.


	77. Chapter 77

Friday morning was more than a little crazy. They'd all woken up a little late, and Noah was up and getting ready for school while Rafael poured his second cup of coffee before running back to the room where he forgot his briefcase yet again. Olivia sat at the small bar counter, Sofía in one arm and a baby bottle in the other.

Eventually, Lucy arrived, and he was running out the door with Noah - who was shoving another piece of toast down his throat as they ran to the car. He dropped Noah off at school, and then quickly made his way to work.

Rafael had a full day at work, back to back court-hearings and a meeting with SVU at noon to replace his lunch. He already knew he would be working late and told Lucy, but he had had no idea just how bad the day was going to get.

Everything seemed to go wrong. First, someone bumped into him on the courthouse steps and spilled his coffee on his tie and shirt. He didn't have time to get to the office and change it so he had an intern quickly run him over a tie as he tried to whip off his shirt, so he was at least somewhat presentable for court.

The hearing for yet another on-campus sexual assault case went as well as he could have hoped for given the mess both parties were. Still, it could have gone a hell of a lot better. Things didn't really improve from there, and he ended up running late to a meeting with the opposing counsel for the Tobias Moore case because the earlier hearing ran much longer than expected.

The arraignment for a domestic violence case the 1-6 was working went all to hell as well - the defendant was released on his own recognizance - and, no surprise there, that meant he had to deal with the detective-turned-attorney Matthew Braden at his most supercilious and infuriating. Rafael had more than a few choice words for the piece of work.

Desperately in need of a break, he ran to his office for a short five-minute break before he had to face the squad again and deal with the mess his day had turned into.

Then, as asked, he had to go down to the precinct due to a parental child abduction case, which didn't exactly improve his mood any.

Everyone could tell he was on edge, and not in the best of moods, but they'd seen him being difficult more than a few times over the years, so opted to let it run his course, not taking his snark personally. They were all a bit frustrated as well with how the arraignment went.

He ended up arraigning the mother and pushing to have the case moved to family court given the child's age and the fact the child had previously made their preference to stay with the mother clear.

He then had a phone call with McCoy regarding everything and had a few other messages from his ADAs to reply to, among other things.

Just after five o'clock, Rafael walked into his office and noticed something on his desk. A little package and what appeared to be a note accompanying it.

Curious, he picked up the note, reading it:_ 'Tu amor me inspira, tu ternura me conmueve y tus besos me enloquecen. Eres mi todo, mi guapo abogado.'_

He couldn't help the small smile that started creasing his lips at the note that Olivia left for him. _'Your love inspires me, your tenderness touches me and your kisses drive me crazy. You're my everything, my handsome lawyer.'_

He flipped the card over to the other side. '_Hopefully, this puts a smile on your face after a rough day. - Liv.'_

Feeling a lot lighter than he had all day, he opened the package. He broke out into a full grin when he saw what was inside. She'd given him a box of his favourite chocolates. His attention was then drawn to something else in the box that made him laugh loud enough he could now hear Carmen walking towards his office to see what was going on.

Rafael had a thing with weird socks, so she'd gotten him socks that said, "_CARPE THE_ _FUCK OUT OF THIS DIEM!"_ The writing was spelled out in light blue and mango orange on denim blue socks. They had blue clouds and bright orange, bright red, and mango starbursts floating by.

Carmen opened the door. "Everything okay in here?"

He waved to the stuff on his desk. "Yes, Carmen, everything's just fine."

His assistant grinned. "You've got a keeper there."

He nodded, smiling. "Oh, I know." The raised an eyebrow. "That's the only reason you're not in trouble for letting strange women into my office."

Carmen laughed. "Well, she married you, didn't she?"

Rafael couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him. "And I'd have it no other way."

Once he was alone again in his office, he sent Olivia a quick text in response to gifts. '_Estoy loco por ti, y cada día te quiero más.'_

The rest of the day, thankfully, went much smoother for him, and when Rafael got home at half-past seven that evening the first thing he did taking his jacket and shoes off was pull her in for a kiss.

"How do you like your gift?" Olivia asked, grinning. He was wearing the socks.

He hummed. "Thank you. For everything."

"Anytime," she said. "And for the record, those socks suit you."

"Is that so?" he murmured against her lips.

"Yes," she said, "I might just have to get you the rest of the outfit."

He tipped his head back, laughing fully. "¿Por qué te quiero?"

"¡Porque estas loco, mi marido guapo!" she teased, now kissing his neck. "But, that's fine, 'cause I am too."

He brought his head back down for another kiss. "What would I ever do without you, mi hermosa mujer?"

She smiled. "Lucky for you, you'll never have to find out."

He pulled her in for another kiss and Sofía started crying and Noah was calling out from the living room. "My favourite truck broke!"

They looked at each other and burst out laughing. He looked at her, "I swear, those kids' timing. It's like they do it on purpose."

"Get used to it, Papi!" Liv retorted, still chuckling. "We'll finish this later."

He shook his head, amused. "I'll take you up on that, Mamá. So, do you want the broken toy or the baby?"

"I'll take the toy," she said, smiling.

He snorted. "The crazy glues in the second drawer on the left."

"Perfect."

Noah called out. "Mama! ¡Papi!"

They both shook their heads, a soft smile on their lips. Yes, things were a little crazy, but neither of them would change a thing. "Coming!"


	78. Chapter 78

The Tobias Moore case finally went to court. Which was a relief given the man's request to move the trial out of New York, citing he wouldn't get a fair trial in the world's media capital.

Motions to change the location of a trial are rarely granted, but Moore's defence attorney argued it should have been in his case, given a "circus-like atmosphere" and "hysteria" fuelled by news reports and social media posts.

The motion had, thankfully, been denied, but the debacle had bought him enough time to introduce four other counts of rape in the first degree. It had been five, but he'd had to dismiss the third due to discrepancies in her story.

With Ms. Reyes, things had gone a lot smoother. With that being said, she was painted as desperate and vengeful. Defence counsel wasted no time on slut shaming her. He'd expected that though, and wasn't about to let his case take another hit. He'd immediately asked for a redirect and shown photos from the hospital and then moved Olivia's testimony up.

Olivia had done phenomenally, and really helped his case. He'd then called the officer from the One-One, Officer Jones, who had dropped Pilar Reyes off at the 16th the morning after her attack.

Opening Statements went as well as he could've hoped for, and, although Cross-Examination was a bit of a mess, it could have gone worse.

He didn't understand how Barth could possibly think the man wasn't guilty but didn't let that thought occupy his thoughts too much. Still, the judge-turned-defence-attorney proved to be an interesting challenge during the witness testimony and cross.

"These are girls who have had a lot of issues with emotional, psychological, problems which worsened following the various encounters,'' Barth told the court in her closing arguments. "They saw an opportunity to take advantage of my client and went for it."

Barth also argued that one of his witnesses lacked any credibility. Still, he'd been able to repair most of the damage, and had multiple other solid witnesses.

Moore testified that he lied to police when he said he did not have sex with the plaintiffs, because he didn't want to admit to cheating on his wife.

Rafael, though, contended Moore lied about not having sex with the plaintiffs because he knew what he had done was wrong. "He is deceptive when challenged with his wrongdoings."

Bath argued testimony from one complainant in particularly - as well as from another witness - was inconsistent and left plenty of doubt as to whether she was sexually assaulted. She suggested the complainant perhaps showed little emotion when describing the alleged rape because she was not being truthful.

She added the one complainant, who testified to being a virgin before the alleged sexual assault, never indicated that she experienced any pain or injury during the alleged assault.

Rafael, not missing a beat, showed the jury evidence of abrasions or vaginal tears which he argued were consistent in the case of a virgin being sexually assaulted.

"You've heard story after story of Mr. Moore's abuse of power. The secrets he didn't want to be brought to light. Secrecy is the linchpin of abuse of power," Rafael said. "It's enabling force." He took a step forward. "Transparency is the only real antidote." He gave a quick glance around at all the jury members. "I would ask the court to take a long and hard look at this case... and when you do, find Tobias Moore guilty."

The relief that he felt when it was over was palpable. Now, he just needed his verdicts to come through. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

"Counsellor, nice job back there! That was a good cross."

He smiled as Olivia walked up to him with Fin. "I'm just glad it's almost over. The defence is really trying to drag this out."

Olivia nodded. "We all saw that coming, though."

"Yeah," Fin said, "it's hardly a surprise."

"You'll get no argument from me," he said. "Either of you up for an early lunch?

Fin nodded. "I could eat."

Olivia gave both men an amused look. "Sure. Anywhere, in particular, you want to go grab a bite to eat?"

He snorted. "Surprise me."

They headed over to Corte Cafe for a quick lunch, before Rafael made his way back to his office to await a verdict.

He genuinely didn't have to wait long. After almost an hour of deliberations, he was called back to the courthouse. The jury had wasted no time on finding the man guilty on all counts, much to Rafael's delight.

He'd not hesitated to request the maximum sentence.

He'd glanced at his watch, noting he had just enough time to make it the school to get Noah. Running out to the car, he texted Lucy to let her know he'd take Noah to baseball in her place.

He got to the school with five minutes to spare. Noah smiled upon seeing Rafael standing there waiting for him.

"Hola, Mijo," he said, taking the young boys backpack. "Cómo estuvo la escuela hoy?" (Hi, Mijo. How was school today?)

Noah smiled warmly. "Bien, gracias. El profesor nos contó historias sobre extraterrestres. Fue asombrosa!" (Good, thanks. The teacher told us a story about aliens. It was awesome!)

"Me alegro," he said with a tilt of the head. "Vamonos." (I'm glad. Let's go.)

Noah was now looking up at him rather intently as the young boy spoke. "Papi, no quiero ir a la práctica." (Papi, I don't want to go to practice.)

"¿Por qué no?" he inquired. "¿Te sientes bien?" (Why not? You feeling okay?)

"Quiero decir, nunca más," the young boy explained. "No me gusta el beisbol." (I mean ever. I don't like baseball.)

His curiosity was piqued. Noah hadn't mentioned anyone picking on him, so he wasn't sure what was going on. "¿No te gusta el béisbol? ¿Desde cuando?" he asked. "¿Pensé que disfrutabas estar en el equipo?" (You don't like baseball? Since when? I thought you enjoyed being on the team?)

Noah shrugged. "Lo hice, pero ahora es aburrido." (I did, but now it's boring.)

Rafael was a bit surprised by that comment but was willing to hear Noah out. Noah had given baseball a good attempt. If it wasn't for him, it wasn't for him.

Noah pointed to another building just up ahead, clearly wanting to show Rafael something. "Eso parece divertido." (That looks fun.)

He followed Noah's line of sight and noticed a group of people in a storefront, dancing. "¿Estás seguro de esto?" (Are you sure about this?)

Noah nodded. "Sí." (Yes.)

Rafael smiled earnestly, ruffling the boy's curly hair. "Entonces vamos a comprar un chocolate caliente y luego ir a la librería por un momento. Podemos hablar con tu mamá más tarde." (Then let's go grab ourselves a hot chocolate and then go to the bookstore for a bit. We can talk to your mom later.)

The young boy smiled. "Gracias, Papi." (Thank you, Papi.)

He chuckled softly. "¿Por qué me estás agradeciendo? Sabes que tengo un goloso más grande que incluso el tuyo." (What are you thanking me for? You know I have more of a sweet-tooth than even you do.)

Noah just laughed, hugging him. When he pulled back, he looked up at Rafael. "¡Llévame a pela, por favor!" (Give me a piggyback ride, please!)

Rafael gave Noah a sideways smile, throwing the young boy up onto his shoulders. He grunted under the weight, but quickly adjusted Noah, to make sure that he wouldn't fall or slip off. "Vas a ser demasiado grande para esto pronto, Mijo." (You're going to be too big for this soon, Mijo.)


	79. Chapter 79

Both of them were up and about, running around, getting ready for work. Rafael was close to being done when he heard Sofía start to cry and rushed to the nursery to grab her, as Olivia was still in the shower. He gently bounced the little girl, and hummed to her, trying to calm her down some.

"No llores, Princesa," he murmured softly to the infant. "Estás bien. No llores." (Don't cry, Princesa. You're ok. Don't cry.)

He smiled, feeling quite pleased, as she had stopped and started cooing, trying to reach out to touch his glasses. The silly little tyke.

"Puedo jugar con ella en la sala?" (Can I play with her in the living room?)

He turned around, facing the young boy who had just walked in.

"¿Por favor?" Noah said, pleading slightly. "Ya comí el desayuno. Estoy listo para la escuela." (Please? I already at breakfast. I'm ready for school.)

"Claro, Mijo." He gave his son a small smile. "Pero solo en el suelo." (Of course, Mijo. But only on the floor.)

Noah nodded, smiling. "Lo se, Papi." (I know, Papi.)

He led Noah to the living room, placing Sofia on her play-mat, who immediately tried to grab Rafael's glasses again, causing Noah to laugh. He rolled his eyes. "Lo siento, mi princesa, pero necesito estos espejuelos." He picked up Sofía's rattle. "Qué tal esto?" (Sorry, my princess, but I need these glasses. How about this?)

He shook the rattle some, before passing it to Noah, who smiled when the little girl started cooing and trying to grab it from him.

Satisfied they'd both be alright, he quickly ran to grab his coffee before hanging back to where he could still see what was going on with the two kids.

Liv walked up giving him a peck on the cheek. "He's so good with her."

He nodded, smiling. "He's a good kid."

"The best."

It wasn't much longer before Lucy arrived, and Rafael was running out the door to head to work, Olivia having said she'd drop Noah off at school that morning.

They hadn't talked to Noah yet about what they were going to do about baseball, but Rafael was all for letting Noah make his own choice and they both agreed on wanting Noah to have his own voice and for that voice to be heard.

She'd been irritated with Rafael initially until he explained the situation. They wanted to sit down with Noah but they hadn't had a chance to yet.

"Counsellor, we have a suspect in the box on the serial rapes."

"Well, give yourself a cookie, Detective!" he retorted. "I'm assuming you're telling me for a reason?"

Carisi rolled his eyes, ignoring the fact that Rafael couldn't actually see him over the phone. "Yes, actually. We need you to come down to the station."

"Fine," he grumbled. "I'll be down shortly."

"See you soon," Carisi said before hanging up.

This case was rather high profile, which meant he and Olivia had the pleasure of having Dodds and McCoy breathing down their respective necks.

A serial rapist who targeted minorities... every move they were making was being watched, and they really needed a win and to end this soon.

They'd had several victims already when Olivia got a call from a nurse at Mercy about another attack in Hell's Kitchen – black, male, tased, and sodomized with a bottle. They were also all found to be in the closet.

They were getting more and more victims, but, yet again, the victim wouldn't file a formal complaint.

Everyone was stressed out, and Olivia eventually sent Fin to talk to his son Ken Randall down at the LGBTQ Men's Crisis Center. The conversation hadn't gone as well as they might have liked, but Ken agreed to assure any victims that the NYPD would keep their information as confidential as possible.

It hadn't been long after that, however, when the rapist struck again, going after a celebrity singer, Mathis Brooks, who'd gone for a walk after a Thursday night performance, later being found by two officers.

The next day, Dodds had then ordered Olivia and Fin to increase uniform patrols and work their contacts, after sending Carisi and Rollins to the hospital to speak to Mr. Brooks, who initially denied being gay. As did the very protective manager and brother.

The singer was clearly shaken. The detective tried to get him to give some details, but he wasn't willing to talk long. Brooks explained he was walking and felt a jolt, likely from the taser. He explained the assault and how horrible, racist things were also yelled at him. He described the perpetrator as a big, scary-looking white guy, with long hair and a beard. He thought the man might have worn a hoodie, but wasn't sure. Carisi and Rollins explained to Brooks that this may be a serial predator and the singer maintained that he wasn't gay. He said he didn't stop anywhere on his walk and shut down the conversation after that. Carisi had given Brooks a card, asking him to contact him if Brooks happened to remember anything else.

Rollins quickly caught Brooks in a lie, finding social media information showing that the singer stopped at a bar that night and a man took a selfie with him. Mathis did not look particularly happy in the photo, but it did show that Mathis Brooks did not go straight home as he claimed.

This was all a Friday mess, which meant Olivia and the squad worked Saturday, while Rafael spent the day with the kids and his mother.

At K Rico Steakhouse that Saturday, Rollins hadn't been able to get much information from the selfie guy. The man did make it clear, however, that he didn't like 'tourists' and said Mathis was so deep in the closet he went past Narnia. He claimed the threat he'd said was a joke and claimed he hadn't followed Brooks and met up with someone else he'd met on Grindr.

Fin and Olivia ended up in meeting with Dodds at that point, where Olivia tried to explain what Mathis allegedly saw in the bar, trying to convince Dodds they really had a case here. Dodds didn't want to just go off rumours but was more than happy to let them quietly work the case and prove the serial angle.

At that point, talking shop at home, Rafael told Olivia to get Brooks on her squad's side. He needed the man to come forward and open the floodgates so to speak.

On Monday, Olivia and Fin went to talk to Brooks and found that the singer needed rather little convincing to make a statement. Robert Fischer, his manager, was reluctant, but Brooks pushed forward anyway.

Later, he'd received a text from Liv, telling him to turn on the TV, and quickly found out why. Brooks had come out with a message to his fans about the serial predator targeting "our community," as he put it. He didn't stop there, making two other statements. Explaining that like many gay black men, he felt compelled to live a lie, and explaining what he went through was horrible.

The plan worked, as several hours later. Ken walked in and introduced Devonn Thompson, who said Ken promised him anything he said would be kept confidential.

Later, in the interview room, Devonn explained to Rollins and Carisi how he was tased and assaulted. He did not see his attacker. He frequented the bar on Tuesdays and his family thought he was going to choir. A month prior, a drunk white guy gave him a hard time about his menthol cigarettes, asking if his wife knew he smoked those, and he got a bad vibe.

While that took place, Olivia was contacted by another victim, Jordan Marcus, who said she can come down and talk if she pretended to be a client. He decided to join her, and the pair drive down to Keenan and Spahn Brokerage. When asked about comments concerning his wife, he said the attacker asked if his wife or kids would be up when he got home. This was back at the end of July. He described the attacker as blue-collar, rough and dirty looking, reddish hair. He didn't see him tase him.

A very different description from what Brooks gave, which started to concern Rafael more than he'd like to admit.

A couple of hours later, another victim, Wayne Talbot, spoke with Fin, who said the attacker didn't say a word, but he could see the toes of his boots covered with paint. It was only six days prior. That Tuesday, he visited his mother and got a beer on the way home. A tall guy, white and thuggish, tried to pry and he shut that down. Talbot said his two worlds must run on separate tracks, which he could understand. They just want to catch the guy, not make things more difficult for these people.

At that point, Olivia, Fin, Rafael, McCoy and Dodds had a lovely meeting where they were expected to explain what they knew so far. McCoy asked why it hadn't gone to the grand jury yet, which Rafael had to own. He had no victims willing to testify and needed more time to do this right.

That seemed to appease both Dodds and McCoy, thankfully.

Olivia explained the first three assaults were on Tuesday nights and Mathis Brooks' was last Friday. She added that Brooks is the only one who allegedly his assaulter and came forward, and the other three only recall a tense interaction with a big red-haired man at their bars. She showed the sketches on the assailants. Rafael pointed out that the sketches diverge and Fin said the MO's do as well. Mathis Brooks claimed he saw the guys and heard gay and racist slurs. The conversation got more convoluted from that point but ended with them agreeing to flood the gay bars in the area with UCs from street crime.

The issue was they needed a person of colour who read as upper middle class, late 30s, and somewhat sophisticated male. Olivia was right when she said there wasn't a lot of those in street crime.

He'd suggested contacting vice, and he went home to Noah and Sofia while the squad set up a sting at No Inhibitions.

It had gone perfectly. And they got the redheaded bastard. The comment 'Safe home, Cinderella. What happens after midnight? You turn straight?' made him shake his head, and he found the fact that Fin jokingly called Jeffrey Moran 'Prince Charming' while arresting him, more than a little amusing.

He'd finally had some time to try and deal with some of his reports and other work when Carisi called. UGH!

So far, the interrogation was going well. He'd lawyered up earlier, but with his lawyer there Moran admitted to being a regular at the bar on Tuesdays as he'd go see his parole officer then and have a few beers after. The lawyer made it clear that the urine tests were for narcotics, not alcohol.

"What's his story?"

"Moran was released from Greenhaven four months ago," she explained, "after a three year bit on assault. He has a rap sheet going back to his childhood."

"Assault or hate crimes?"

"Neither, but he fits the profile."

He nodded. "He obviously has a problem with gay and blacks. And you l found him following the UC with a stun gun and a beer bottle. But... I know his attorney. He will find the holes. I need more. Call the victims and do a line-up."

The captain looked at him. "The first three can only put him at the bar."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Bring Brooks in. He alleged he saw the attacker."

She looked at him questioningly. "I thought you doubted him."

He snorted. "I do. Hopefully, this will clear things up."

She nodded, looking resigned.

"Take your time," Olivia said.

Rafael was watching Brooks carefully, trying to get the best read possible of the situation, but wanting to give the man the benefit of the doubt.

After a moment, Brooks spoke. "Number number three?"

Rafael gave Olivia a pointed look at hearing the complete uncertainty in the man's voice. He already knew he'd never be able to use this ID in court.

"Are you saying that it's number three?" Rafael asked calmly.

"Am I?" came Brooks' reply. "Actually It was number six." Rafael fought to keep his expression neutral. This was a mess. "Wait, was it was it three?"

The defence attorney looked at Rafael. "What is this, Counselor, phone a friend?" Rafael glared, frustration clear as day on his face. The defence attorney smirked at his reaction. "Just saying what everyone's thinking."

"Hold up, hold up!" Brooks almost pleaded. "You know what? I know what's wrong. I turned, and then I got a glimpse." Rafael took a deep breath, watching the man's antics. "Okay. So I was like this. Number two. No. - Number four."

Olivia shook her head, and Rafael sighed. "Okay. No further questions."

Once Brooks and the defence attorney were gone, having been walked out by Olivia, he walked out, running to Rollins.

"How'd it go?"

He snorted. "It couldn't have possibly gone worse."

Rollins bit her lip. "Doesn't surprise me." She paused. "Listen, on the drive over here he kept asking what number the perp was gonna be."

"Damn it!" he said, "Cross-racial IDs are always difficult, but even I can't salvage this mess, and nor do I want to."

"We caught Moran with a stun gun," Rollins added.

"But none of the other victims have agreed to testify," Olivia said, walking back into the room.

"Exactly," he said, "That puts Brooks front and center. Moran's got an alibi for Friday night. He said he was at a Mets game with his ex-girlfriend." He looked at Liv. "I warned you, D'Angelo finds holes."

Rollins looked at him. "What do you need?"

He considered it for a moment. "I can still arraign Moran, easily. He was caught by a UC. That was clean. And he's a parolee." He gave Olivia a pointed look. "Just keep looking for anything you can, and for the love of God, please keep Brooks out of the rest of the investigation as much as possible. His credibility as a witness is shot." He gave Olivia a kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you later."

"Por favor, intenta relajarte," Oliva said softly. "Dudo que heya considerado el daño que causarían sus acciones." (Please try and relax. I doubt he considered the harm that his actions would cause.)

"No cambia lo que hizo," he stated. "Él envenenó el pozo." (Doesn't change what he did. He poisoned the well.)

She nodded. He forced a small smile, squeezing her hand as he left.


	80. Chapter 80

"Mr. Moran," Judge McNamara stated, "you're charged with four counts of aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree. How do you plead?"

The defendant didn't even hesitate. "Not guilty, Your Honour."

"And the people on bail?"

"Your Honour," Rafael stated, "the accused was arrested under the influence of alcohol, with weapons on him, while on parole. It's a clear violation."

The judge nodded before glancing over at Moran. "I'm sorry you didn't learn your lesson. Remanded to Rikers."

Rafael still had a smug look on his face when Mickey D'Angelo walked up to him.

"Hey, Barba," the attorney quipped, "despite you being a pain in the ass, here's a little tip." He smirked. "Your star witness is lying. I mean, demonstrably."

He sneered. "Save it for trial."

D'Angelo shrugged. "Oh, it'll come out before then." He looked amused. Rafael wanted to wipe the smug look off. "Right now, I'm trying to decide between CNN and Fox. You got a preference?"

"Do whatever you want," Rafael said coolly. "We both know that no jury's going to believe the pile of crap you're selling."

"I wouldn't be so sure," came the retort. "You obnoxious dandy."

He rolled his eyes. "Real original." He chuckled softly. "And my star witness isn't who you think it is." He took a step forward. "See you in court."

D'Angelo was as good as his word.

"A bizarre twist today in the alleged tasing and sexual assault of pop superstar Mathis. Security footage has surfaced of his brother Aygon purchasing a stun gun from this store."

He shook his head.

Fin spoke up. "Dumbass used his corporate credit card."

"D'Angelo must've known to go looking for his," Liv said. "Did somebody tip him off."

"Moran told him that he didn't do Mathis," Rafael said, "and he would know. Does Moran's alibi check out?"

"Yeah," Rollins said, "his ex took a selfie of them and their kids on the upper deck at Citi Field. It's already all over Twitter. #MathisMadeItUp."

"So even if Moran is good for the other three assaults -" Olivia started.

"Which he is," Fin said, cutting Olivia off.

"Brooks poisoned the well," Rafael stated.

His phone rang, and he groaned when he looked at the call display. "It's the D.A. This should be short but not sweet."

This case was just getting better and better.

"Relax," Olivia said. "I'll send Fin and Carisi to speak with Mathis and his lawyer."

He nodded, answering the incoming call.

The phone call with McCoy went about as well as could be expected, and things didn't go well on the Fin and Carisi front. All they got out of it was more and more certainty that the singer had set the entire thing up.

Olivia than sent someone to talk to Aygon about the stun-gun he purchased, but they got little out of that conversation as well.

However, within little time at all, Mathis Brooks uploaded a video speaking out against the allegations he faked the assault and that he came out to help the NYPD at a cost to himself. Now NYPD was calling him a liar, and as the crowd booed at the NYPD, he claimed they still saw black men as criminals and not victims.

Rafael, upset, asked 'What the hell the kid was thinking?' Of course, he knew and didn't need the squad's reminder. The man knew he was going to be outed and was getting out in front of it. It was also easier to get sympathy as a victim.

Rollins says he knew he was going to be outed and is getting in front of it. Fin thinks

"What do we do now?" Carisi asked.

"Well, seeing as D'Angelo got the judge to drop the charges on Moran for the Mathis Brooks assault," he said, "that complicates things. I don't see an indictment on the other three attacks. The undercover op. is all we have. The rest is, well, iffy." He sighed. "The clock is ticking. I managed to get the D.A to give us 24 hours to prove our case before he forces me to drop the charges."

"Seriously, Counsellor?" the captain said.

He rolled his eyes at her tone. "Unfortunately."

"Counsellor, I really don't care about no exploding clock. These victims -"

"Captain," he said, "I'll stop you right there." He gave her a pointed look. "I don't want to have to drop the charges, but my hands are tied. Talk to the other victims again. Something." He started doing up his jacket, getting ready to leave. "You have to find me something. Fast."

He turned to Fin. "Your best bet is going through Ken again."

The sergeant nodded as Rafael left, closing Olivia's office door behind him.

While Rafael was dealing with work from his other cases, and making sure his ADAs were doing their jobs, the squad continued trying to work their case.

Ken tried to convince Devonn Thompson to come in, with no luck at first. Jordan Marcus and Wayne Talbot both stopped returning calls. That meant they couldn't even run the rape kits and they couldn't get the victims' permission. Any evidence CSU currently had was useless because it was all from the Mathis Brooks disaster.

Finally, though, Ken managed to get Devonn Thompson to come in.

Thankfully, Olivia was able to finally contact Rafael and let him know they had something he might be able to use as leverage.

In the interview room, Devonn told Fin that Ken left out something that could be helpful. As Olivia and Rollins observed, Devonn explained after meeting Moran while having a smoke, Moran followed him back into the bar in the bathroom and got down on his knees and unzipped his pants. Fin asked if that was consensual and he replied 'very.' After their hook-up, he informed them that he went back to the bar and took a picture of them and then it was like Jekyll and Hyde... Moran just snapped, and Devonn got out of there fast. He did not assault him then but Devonn ran into him at the bar a month later and he got out of there, but he must have followed him. Rollins commented that it explained a lot but unless Devonn testified, the photo is inadmissible, so Oliva called him.

It was rather late in the day, so Rafael immediately set up an appointment at Rikers Island the following day after a motion hearing for another case of his, which honestly, didn't end up going his way.

Feeling done, he went home, wanting to spend the rest of his birthday at home with his family. Pizza and movie night with a glass or two of scotch.

"Plea bargain?" D'Angelo scoffed. "After your star client has just been outed, pun intended, as the biggest liar since Pinocchio?"

"Forget Brooks," he deadpanned. He cut the defence attorney off when he tried to speak. "He's irrelevant to this conversation. Your client arrested, in the act, I might add."

D'Angelo didn't miss a beat. "None of your other victims say they saw my client's face.

"Actually," he smirked, "I have one who did very clearly. In fact, I got some evidence that you are entitled to see."

"Exculpatory?"

Still smirking. "Yes and no." He took the photo out, sliding it across the table.

"What the hell is this?"

"That's a photo of your client with a man that he later victimized, taken shortly after your client dropped to his knees and performed oral."

The defendant looked pissed. "That's a lie."

He raises an eyebrow. "In the downstairs bathroom at Swank." He grinned. "You two look pretty cozy."

"You son of a bitch," Moran hissed. "Take that back."

"Calm down, Jeff." D'Angelo looked at Rafael. "Look, this photo is probative of nothing. I mean, you just said the interaction was consensual."

"I did," he nodded, "and a jury will be told that as well. They'll also hear what happened the following time he saw his lover when out cruising. He followed him, he demanded his phone, and then, in a fit of rage, he sodomized him."

"Is that right?" D'Angelo stated with feigned calm. "Try finding a juror who hasn't heard about Mathis." He gestured at the photo. "Nobody's gonna believe any of this."

"That is fair enough," Rafael said, "I just want to make sure that your client knows what is going come out in a public trial. Between you and me, I'm not straight either. I know what it's like, being in the closet." Normally he wouldn't say anything, but part of the issue between him at D'Angelo was D'Angelo having caught Rafael with a male some years back. The man knew. Rafael eyed the defendant. "You don't want this going to trial do you?"

Moran sneered. "I'm not gay."

He shrugged. "That's not what the jury will think when they see that photo and hear the testimony. Also, there's a huge chance the trial doesn't go your way, Moran."

D'Angelo sneered. "What do you want, Counsellor?"

"Just so we're clear," Rafael said, "homosexuality is a pretty difficult backstory to carry into prison, as I'm sure Mr. Moran knows."

"I'm not a fag like you."

D'Angelo tried to assure the defendant. "He's bluffing. You're not going away."

"Maybe not," Rafael agreed, "but, Mr. Moran, here's your choice. Confess, and you go into prison as a straight man who assaults gays." He smirked. "Or, this goes to trial, where I'll make sure that everybody hears that you're a self-loathing homosexual who gets angry after he services black men in bars." A pointed look. "As your attorney once said to me, 'What's your preference?'"

He got up, acting like he was about to leave the room when he got called back. "Wait!"

When he left the room, Jeffrey Moran had taken a plea. Three counts of first-degree Sexual Abuse along with one count of Attempted Assault in the first degree. Served concurrently. He was going away for the next ten years.

Now they just had to figure out what, if anything, to do about Mathis Brooks' lies. False reporting was rare. They had to tread carefully. At least one major problem was solved. Nobody had to testify and Moran was off the streets.

Rafael had to pull a bit of a late shift to catch up on some of the work he was behind on but didn't mind, figuring it was worth it if it meant he didn't have to deal with any of it the rest of the weekend. Still, he was happy when he was able to call it a night and go home to his family.

Noah was still awake, given it being a Friday night, which meant he and Olivia could finally have that sitdown conversation with Noah about what he wanted. They'd had him continue with baseball practice while this case was going on, but Rafael could easily tell that their son really wasn't feeling it anymore.

Olivia could see it too, and, as such, had looked into it some. The coach said there were no issues he was aware of at practice and Noah didn't voice any concerns except boredom. After Rafael and Liv talking, Olivia found a decent dance school that still had room in their classes. Now, they just needed to see if it was something that Noah really wanted or just where his head was currently at.


	81. Chapter 81

After a rather lazy day around the house, with a lengthy visit from Rita over lunch, a visit to the library, and watching some TV. Rafael and Olivia had just finished helping Noah build a fort. His mother finished preparing dinner while listening to music in the background. His favourite dish: lechón con moros y maduros. She'd also made a salad to go with it and they had a few snacks set aside for later on too. Then they had Materva, Jupiña, and Iron Beer to drink along with Bizcocho Dominicano for dessert. As per tradition. They had everything for daquiri and Cuba libre as well for the adults.

The fried sweet plantains were a must in his world, which his mother knew full well. And, of course, the pork. Delicious. The fort all set up, Olivia was now feeding Sofia a bottle as she was clearly hungry, having gotten a little fussy, while Noah told Rafael a rather funny story.

Of course, everyone was running late, which came as no surprise, but he finally heard an unmistakable knock on the door. Ricardo and Tía Claudia came down from Miami again to see him as it was the closest weekend to his birthday and also wanting to meet little Sofía. The Garcias were all coming over as well.

"I've got it!" Noah called out, putting down his lego and running for the door. He then heard muttering, which he could only assume was Noah verifying who was at the door, just as he'd been taught.

Closing the dishwasher he'd just finished loading, Rafael headed out to greet everyone, Olivia just now walking out of Sofía's nursery.

"Buenas noches," he said, giving everyone a quick kiss on the cheek. "Me alegro mucho de que ustedes podrían venir!" (Good evening. I'm so glad you guys could come!)

Ricardo gave him a hug, amused at seeing Rafael had left the suits in his closet, opting for a guayabera just like he had. "También es bueno verte, Papito. Feliz cumpleaños!" (It's good to see you too, Papito. Happy birthday.)

He had to snort when Eddie was another five minutes late. Typical, but amusing for some silly reason. Eddie pulled him into a hug as well. "Feliz cumpleaños, Hermano."

He grinned. "Gracias, Eddie."

"It's nothing," Eddie assured him. "Oh, Erika says happy birthday too. She got stuck working a late shift, unfortunately."

He nodded, smiling. "No worries."

Rafael's attention was caught by a tap on the arm. He looked over and saw it was Sebastián right beside him. "Hi, Tío."

"Ay, Gordito! When did you get here?" he teased. "Haven't been causing too much trouble, I hope?"

"Nunca," Sebastián said, chuckling. "Still haven't burned the house down yet." The boy grinned, pulling him in for a hug. "Feliz cumpleaños."

"Sí, feliz cumpleaños, sobrino mío," his aunt said, a teasing lilt entering her voice. "Don't worry about getting old. You're still above ground."

He rolled his eyes. "Dios mío! You do know you're older than me, right?"

His aunt laughed. "Don't remind me."

María Elena kissed him on the cheek. "Ignórala, Papito. Feliz cumpleaños tardío." (Ignore her, Papito. Happy belated birthday.)

He gave Mrs. Garcia a small smile. "Muchas gracias."

Rafael shot his Tía Claudia a smug look. His mother made a comment to Eddie's mother about giving Rafael bad ideas. Rolling her eyes at the whole thing, Tià Claudia turned to Olivia, "Bueno, estoy robando a la niña. Ella es muy linda! Pass her here." (So, I'm stealing the little one. She's too cute!)

"Aquí tienes," Olivia said as she passed Sofía over. "She's a grabber though, just so you know." (Here you go.)

"It's fine," his aunt said, smiling. The little girl immediately started grabbing at Claudia's dress shirt, crinkling it. His aunt chuckled, looking down at Sofía. "Por favor, engurruña mi ropa. They look better that way." (Please, do wrinkle my clothes.)

"You were warned," Rafael said with an air of amusement, "but, frankly, better your shirt than my glasses. Again. Le gusta arrancarlos de mi cara." (She likes to rip them off of my face.)

Noah snickered. "Cada oportunidad que tenga." (Every chance she gets.)

His mother wore a similar expression to Rafael's. "Chiquito here's not exaggerating in any way. She really does. Constantemente."

Rafael just shrugged. "Le gustan los espejuelos." (She likes glasses.)

Eddie turned to Noah. "So, how's having a baby in the house?"

"She cries a lot," Noah said with a shrug, "but she's pretty cute and I like playing with her, so I think we can forgive that."

The adults chuckled.

Eddie's mother spoke up. "At that age, they need a lot of attention."

"Lo sé," Olivia replied. "Noah's actually great with her." (I know.)

Rafael nodded. "He really is. It's awesome, honestly." He played with Sofía's feet. "Y gracias a la princesita aquí, tengo una excusa viable para mi adicción al café." (And thanks to the little princess here, I have a viable excuse for my coffee addiction.)

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Yes, because you need an excuse."

He smirked. "Even Carmen isn't mean enough to deny me coffee anymore."

"Because she's smart," Ricardo quipped. "She's met you a few times."

"That's why I stole her from Brooklyn," he said with a smirk.

Several people laughed and he got a few eye roles too, which suited him fine. Everyone chatted a bit longer before Olivia put Sofia down and they all managed to make their way to the dining room.

They said grace, all ate their fill, and then his mother went to get the cake. Everyone started singing when his mother walked around the corner from the kitchen.

'Feliz, feliz en tu día,  
Amiguito, que Dios te bendiga,  
Que reine la paz en tu vida,  
Y que cumplas muchos más!'

They then hit him with the English version of 'Happy Birthday.' He blew the candles out, and when his mother went to pull his ear, and he went to dodge, almost falling, and they all cornered him. His mother won the fight, as always.

"I hate you all right now," he deadpanned, no malice in his voice whatsoever.

"Keep telling yourself that," his mother said, laughing.

The rest of the night was a lot of music and dancing and sharing ridiculous stories. Honestly, Rafael really enjoyed himself. He hadn't been sure about actually wanting to do anything for his birthday but was glad his mother pushed it.

After a very very late night, they slept in as late as possible the following morning before running out the door to go mass and then visiting a bit more with Ricardo and his aunt before they flew back to Miami that evening.

House clean, and both kids asleep, the pair of them were now relaxing in front of the TV, watching some random show Olivia picked, chatting.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Liv asked, pulling him into a kiss

He hummed in approval. He pulled back a moment later. "Definitely, but I think you spoiled me a little." He chuckled. "Mami throwing you out of the kitchen was hilarious though."

She laughed. "You are such a mama's boy, but, admittedly it was. I don't know why it surprised me, though. She warned me that was how things were going to go when we had breakfast that first time."

He chuckled. "She's definitely a woman of her word."


	82. Chapter 82

The weekend over, it was business as usual in the D.A's Office. He'd had to reprimand one of his ADAs that Monday, but it was nothing major. He just knew he couldn't let the behaviour slide or it could become a problem. He had a couple of hearings and managed to be home for dinner. Liv as well, although she was having an interesting time with the new detective she just got. Katriona Tamin, the former Vice Officer.

Olivia thought the detective was more than capable, and it was beyond time that they got another set of hands on deck. SVU had worked with Tamin before, most notably on the Tobias Moore case, so the entire adjustment was going smoother than it might have otherwise.

When he arrived at work on Tuesday, ten messages were already awaiting on his voicemail. This was an unusual number for first thing in the morning, so he already knew the day was going to be more than a little interesting.

After dealing with a witness who was frightened and he was concerned would back out, sending Carisi to support and convince them, he made sure to be at court for 9 o'clock, as he had a scheduled grand jury presentation. Thankfully, most of the detectives arrived at about the same time, although he did have a bit of a wait for several civilian witnesses.

It was a short day in the grand jury, so he was done by a quarter to eleven, which meant he was ten minutes late for his 10:30 meeting with McCoy.

The meeting went fine, and then his phone wouldn't stop ringing as both Buchanan and Maddox wanted to meet with him that morning.

That mess finally wrapped up at 1:40 in the afternoon, meaning Rafael quickly ate a sandwich while he waited for his 2:30 appointment with Rita Calhoun. That slight break gave him some time to return the prior ten voicemails and the eleven more that had piled up since.

Rita didn't leave his office until half-past three, and he was lucky that the appointment he had had at three o'clock had been cancelled earlier.

He answered a couple more emails and returned a few calls, before settling in to get some work done for about an hour and a half. He'd been in the middle of preparing for a cross-examination when his phone rang and he was asking to go down to the 16th precinct as they'd caught a case.

They'd arrested a man who was suspected of sexually assaulting an elderly woman on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

"Who is this guy?" Rafael asked.

"Diego Anfosso," Carisi said without preamble. "Thirty-one years old and is from the Bronx."

"And yet he was in Manhattan at night?" he said

"And what transpired exactly?"

"He's suspected of raping 78-year-old, Maureen Conly, in her own apartment at the Rutgers Houses yesterday evening," the captain added. "Maureen alleges he broken in and proceeded to grab her neck and grope her while touching himself, after which, he ran off." She looked at him. "She's been nothing but consistent, no record, and all her neighbours have nothing but good things to say about."

He nodded. "So, she's credible. good. What's his story?"

Rollins gave him a rather pointed look. "The usual, Counsellor. It was all consensual, and the entire thing is a giant misunderstanding."

"He's not the brightest. At first the idiot claimed he was visiting someone else," Fin said. "Once we pointed out the video footage, he clammed up. Changed his story right quick."

"Of course he did," he said with a snort. "It's classic. Admit what you can't deny, deny what you can't admit." He looked at them all. "Do we have any idea what the connection between those two is?"

"So far, your guess is as good as ours," the captain said. "Both the victim and suspect deny previously knowing each other."

"And I doubt they run in the same circles," Fin added.

Rafael nodded. "So, what evidence do you have for me?"

"Camera footage from the bodega across the street," Fin said. "It shows him walking into the building and not leaving until after the time the vic says she was raped."

Well, that certainly was a huge help. "Great. Any witnesses?"

"No," Kat - as she insisted on being called - chimed in. "We canvased the entire building. Nobody's come forward."

"Ok," he said, "what do you have?"

"Hospital records," Olivia said. "Bruising on her neck consistent with being strangled and we're currently testing fluids found on the scene."

He considered everything for a moment. "Vet them both thoroughly, but assuming the DNA comes back positive fas Fletcher's I can easily get the indictment. I'm thinking felony assault, burglary and sex abuse one." He looked at Olivia. "Call me when you get the DNA results back."

She nodded. "Where are you running off to?"

He snorted. "The office. The dusty pages of legal precedent await."

"Hmm," she said, "don't let me keep you then, Counsellor. Oh, Noah seemed to really enjoy dance today." She'd picked Noah up from school, and took him to dance, wanting to be there with him for the first time. He was glad the child had noticeably enjoyed it after all.

"How long were you able to stay for?"

"I stayed for about fifteen minutes," she said, giving him a sideways smile. "He was grinning the entire time though and was beyond excited. He just walked in and said, 'Hi, I want to dance.'"

Rafael chuckled softly. "That definitely sounds like him." He squeezed her hand. "I'll see you later, Liv."

He went back to his office, chipping away at the work sitting on his desk, occasionally being interrupted by the occasional phone call. He had multiple arraignment hearings over the next few days for other cases and needed to review the files so he knew what he wanted to ask for bail.

At a quarter to five, he had to deal with a fact-finding issue for a domestic violence case. The witness recanted on some of her testimony and the father had apparently been pressuring her not to testify against her husband, leaving Rafael a little uncertain as to the strength of his case.

Just after five, Olivia called him, letting him know that they got a match on the DNA for the Anfosso case.

He made a few calls, got the defendant booked, and made it so he'd have the man in arraignment as soon as possible.

By a quarter past six, Rafael was on his way home to his family. Olivia had gotten home before him.

Noah ran at him, forgetting the game he'd been playing. "Papi! Guess what? Dance was actually really fun."

He smiled, ruffling the boy's hair. "I'm glad. You'll have to tell me all about it. Y cómo estuvo el resto del día?" (And how was the rest of your day?)

"Muy bien!" Noah chirped, "but we had our math test today." (Pretty well!)

"The addition and subtraction one?" Rafael asked, unbuttoning his jacket.

"Yeah," Noah said enthusiastically. "It was pretty hard, but I did really good on it. Right, Mama?"

Olivia had walked out just moments before and leaned in to give Rafael a quick kiss, Sofia in hand. "Our boy got eight out of ten."

Rafael gave Noah a look of pride. "Wow, that's fantastic, Mijo. Keep it up." Rafael hung his jacket up. "I think you should get pick dinner tonight, don't you, Mom?"

"Oh, I think you've certainly deserved it," Olivia said.

"YAY!" Noah said. "Can we have burgers and fries?"

"Okay, cheeseburgers and fries it is then," Rafael chuckled. "So, tell me about dance class. Qué hicieron?" (What did you guys do?)

Noah, grinning from ear to ear, was immediately off chatting about the different things he learned and the new friend he'd managed to make.

Rafael and Olivia's eyes met, and she nodded. Despite the misgivings she may have had, they'd made the right call.


	83. Chapter 83

He shook his head, amused, and Olivia rushed through the door. She looked great, wearing a lovely, shin length, black dress with a mix of dusty rose and blue coloured polkadots in the form of roses scattered all over.

She'd been running late because of something that had come up with 1PP. It had taken a half-hour at most to deal with, but still.

"Sorry about earlier," Olivia said, giving Rafael a quick kiss. He was dressed in a casual, grey, tweed, jacket worn over a crisp white, button-up, long sleeve, dress shirt and navy pants with a brown leather belt. Mixed with the grey hair that was showing, she thought he looked quite distinguished.

"No harm done, Cariño." He gave her a small smile.

She returned the smile. "Where's Sofia?"

"Carisi's got her," he explained. "He'll have her corrupted in short order."

She rolled her eyes. "You know you're fond of him."

He smirked. "Perhaps slightly."

They heard the woman beside them clear her throat. "Now that the godparents are here, let's get started."

Everyone else was here already. The entire squad came - Tamin being the exception. Rollins' mother and sister, as well as all of Carisi's family, were there as well.

Olivia nodded. "Okay."

Smiling, the minister started the ceremony, taking Rollins' youngest in her arms.

She invited Rollins and the chosen godparents - Olivia and Rafael - to stand around the front. The minister said a quick prayer, did a short bible reading, and both Rollins, Carisi and Olivia stepped forward to make promises on behalf of Billie.

The minister then signed the baby with oil on the forehead. Water was poured into the font and blessed.

"Billie Mabel Rollins," she said, gently pouring the water over the child's head. "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Everyone chorused 'Amen' in response, an air of pure contentment filling the room.

The rest of the service went quite quickly, and then they were all taking photos with Billie and chatting before making their way out of the church.

He managed to catch Carisi alone for a second. "Staten Island."

Carisi smiled. "Running away from your Goddaughter already?"

"No," he said, chuckling. "I have to say, I was surprised to be asked, however."

"She'll bug you until the end of time," Carisi said, "but Amanda _does_ like you. Biting sarcasm and all."

He smiled earnestly. "Well, I'm touched."

Carisi looked at him. "So, was there something you needed?"

"You've been acting weird," he said simply. "Well, weirder than usual."

Carisi looked rather taken aback. "No, I haven't."

"Yes, you have," he said. The man had pulled a disappearing act more than once lately and was rather more secretive. "So, have you got the ring already?"

Carisi looked at him. "How did you...?"

"Word to the wise, Carisi," he said, "if you want it to be a surprise, I'd maybe relax a bit. You're on edge and most of us can see it."

Carisi groaned, saying ''Che macello!" under his breath, whatever that meant. 'And here I thought I was doing so well at hiding it."

He smirked. "If it's any consolation, I think she's still completely oblivious as to your intentions. You haven't blown it yet."

Carisi visibly relaxed. "Good," Carisi said, "but, honestly, man, I think at this point using last names is a little weird, don't you? At least, outside of work, I mean."

"Fine, Sonny," he said, "but, honestly, relax. And that's coming from me."

The other man laughed. They chatted for another moment or two before Noah and Jesse, quite the energetic pair, came barging in asking them what they were up to.

Carisi laughed. "Come on, cara mia. Andiamo!" he said to the young girl. "Let's go find your mom before she gives up and leaves without us."

"Ok, Sonny," Jesse said, giggling. "Mommy promised pizza, you know."

"And ice cream," Noah added.

The other man smiled warmly. "I did know that. That's why I think we have to run. She'll go eat all the pizza without us, and we can't have that, now can we?"

Rafael snorted. "Oh, the unimaginable cruelty."

"I know, Uncle Rafa," Jesse said, nodding sagely.

Rafael had to bite back a laugh. "Come on, you little rascals."

As promised, they had a little pizza party to celebrate, having fun with the kids, although the two youngest ended up napping for most of it.

With another weekend gone, they were back at work, going about their usual business and finishing planning a new presentation they were giving two weekends from now.

As it turned out, on Sunday a teen girl named Evangeline packed a suitcase and got on a bus from her home in Ohio to New York. Purportedly to meet an older boy named Isaac that she knew. The parents had immediately filed a missing person report, that had been faxed to Liv's precinct in record time.

Evangeline's parents and pastor came to the city, and talked to them, although rather hesitantly. They'd learned that Evangeline was involved with the guy Isaac who left for New York a month prior after getting caught with a 15-year-old girl, as well as that the father actually adopted the girl at age nine, after her biological father died and the mother remarried.

The detectives managed to track down Issac who told them he lent his dog to her to panhandle. When they finally found her, it was just in time to watch her pass out on the sidewalk. They, of course, took her to the hospital where they discovered she was 12 weeks pregnant and showed signs of sexual activity or abuse for the last two years.

After Evangeline was discharged, Rafael had immediately been contacted, which is how he found himself down at the precinct once the hearing he had earlier ended, watching the young teen's interview.

"Next year, I'm supposed to go to high school," Evangeline said, "I don't want to drop out. I'm too young to have a baby."

Officer Tamin tried to assure the young girl. "That is completely your decision, Evangeline. Yours."

"Kat's right," Rollins said. "We're just trying to sort this out. Ok?" The young teen nodded. "Now, can you tell us how you got pregnant?"

"I turned my back on God," she replied. "I didn't save myself for marriage."

Rollins took a deep breath. "So... so, it was someone you know. Okay, well, we know that you came here to see Isaac."

"I wanted him to help me."

"So, was it Isaac?" Rollins asked. "Just tell us what happened. It's gonna be okay."

The girl looked torn. "I didn't want to say no to him."

"Did he force you?" Tamin asked.

"He kept asking," she explained. "He said he loved me, that it was our secret. That if I told anyone, my mom, things would be really bad." The young girl bit her lip. I should've told her, but I was just too afraid that she wouldn't believe me."

"None of this is your fault, honey," Rollins told the girl.

"You can't tell my mom, or Jim, or Pastor Mark, that I want an abortion." The girl was adamant about the fact. "They would never allow it."

The interview winded down not long after. He turned to Olivia and gave her a rather pointed look. "This was just a matter of time."

"I hear that," Carisi said. "I was talking to my mom when these states passed the fetal heartbeat laws. She got a second sight for this kind of thing. She asked me, 'What is gonna happen when some kid gets pregnant and comes to New York for an abortion?'"

"My mother and I had a similar conversation," Rafael said. "Honestly, these laws they want to put in place are not the answer. Not even close."

"Agreed." Olivia looked at Carisi. "And what did you say to that?"

Carisi snorted, shrugging slightly. "We're in uncharted waters."

He nodded in agreement. "That's one way to put it."

"Evangeline is here now," Olivia said, "and New York has full reproductive rights for girls of any age."

"That is right," Tamin said. "It's that girl's decision."

"Well," Rollins said, "she's upset but she definitely wants the abortion."

The sergeant looked at them all. "The parents are fundamentalists. Once they get here, they're gonna throw her in the car and take her home."

"She's 13?" Rafael asked.

"She is."

"It'll be hard to find a judge who'll deny parental custody," he said. "She'd need to come forward about the abuse. Then a family court prosecutor could argue that the parents knew or should've known about the abuse. That's neglect."

"There may not be time for that," Fin said. "The Millers are on their way here now."

"We're talking about a pregnant 13-year-old runaway," the captain said. "Counsellor, can we take emergency custody?"

He nodded.

"Ok," Olivia said, "then I'm going to call ACS."

"She's also gonna need her own lawyer," Carisi added.

"I can call Legal Aid," Rafael said, "but it might be better if you can get Langan to agree. He's good for custody issues."

"I'll make the call," Olivia said, "I don't want Legal Aid sending someone over who's handling 75 other cases and doesn't have her as a priority." She glanced at her Sargeant. "So, Fin, in the meantime, find out from Isaac exactly what their relationship was and how much the parents knew."

Now came the fun part; dealing with the parents.

They met with the parents in Olivia's office. They explained to the parents about the ongoing physical relationship. They thought it is Isaac, but Olivia and Rafael explained that the girl didn't come to the city for Isaac, that she came to New York because she didn't want the pregnancy.

As expected, they were stunned but stated that the baby was a gift from God, and the mother commented that Evangeline now had to marry Isaac. Rafael had had to bite back a retort for that one. Honestly, what century were they in?

The parents insisted they were going to take Evangeline home immediately but Olivia explained that their daughter was now in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Rafael then explained what happened next. Explained that they would have to appear before a family court judge and should get a good lawyer. James commented that the pastor was a lawyer before he was called by God. He then looked at Olivia and Rafael and said that he knew things were different in New York, but their daughter was not going to kill her baby.

Olivia kept gesturing for Rafael to bite his tongue because all Rafael was hearing was that the parents cared more about how their church perceived them than their own daughter's mental wellbeing.

When work was done for the day, both stayed back in Olivia's office, ordering in dinner and having a couple of drinks, prattling away, just trying to relax.

"Some things, you can put them behind you," Olivia said, "but they do change you. Running away doesn't make it over. You know that."

He gave her a sad smile. "I do."

She sighed. "You know, I had a pregnancy scare in college. I was with a boy I liked, I didn't love." She gestured vaguely. "Not that it should matter. But I was 19 years old and I really wanted to do something important with my life."

"You have."

She gave him a sideways smile. "I decided to make an appointment at the clinic," she continued. "Then I spent the next few days agonizing. I didn't eat. i didn't sleep. Just wondering if I was making a decision that I would forever regret."

He squeezed her hand.

"And that day on the way to my appointment," she said, "I got my period."

He nodded again, just to show he was listening to her.

"I never did get pregnant after that." Another vague gesture. "And so, you know, do I regret never having a biological child—even now?" She wiped her face with her hand. "Sometimes if I allow myself to wonder, but then, with you, the kids, we're happy."

"I get it," he assured her. "That's why we're doing this. Fighting for her to have the right to decide for herself what she wants out of life. Either choice will be hard, but it needs to be hers."

She smiled slightly. "And that's why I love you, Rafa."

"I love you too, Liv," he said, giving her a kiss. "More and more every day."


	84. Chapter 84

Waking up, Rafael made sure that Noah ate breakfast and had his school stuff ready, while Olivia fed Sofia. He then took Sofia while Olivia quickly finished getting ready, attempting to finish a cup of coffee with an infant in his arms, and chatting with Noah.

Lucy showed up right on time, they talked with her briefly, before Rafael ran out to work as he had a meeting first thing, and couldn't move it given the time of the family court hearing he needed to sit through that morning, and already having moved two other meetings. Olivia left not long after him, dropping Noah off at school before making her own way to work.

At court, both sides were fighting, going back and forth. The parents' attorney/pastor claimed that the State had presented no evidence of an imminent risk to Evangeline.

Langan had, thankfully agreed to take on the case, and was good. He immediately argued that the pregnancy was the result of ongoing abuse. The parents hadn't protected her so far, so there as no reason to believe they could now.

"We're still looking at an unnamed sexual perpetrator?" Judge Blake asked.

"We've requested a fetal DNA test," Langan explained. "My client refuses, Your Honour. She views the blood test as invasive."

"Invasive?" Pastor Mark retorted, "She's seeking an abortion."

Counsellor Langan shot the attorney-turned-pastor a very pointed look, before looking back at the judge. "My client wants to end this pregnancy. If you return her to parental custody, they will take her back to Ohio, where consent laws and the fetal heartbeat legislation that is being pushed - which a federal judge has already blocked Ohio from enforcing once - will make it exceedingly difficult for her to legally terminate this pregnancy."

Pastor Mark didn't miss a beat. "You mean _commit_ _murder_. We demand the girl immediately be returned to the parents' custody."

Judge Blake looked at the pastor. "Mr. Randall, I'm not ready to do that."

"If your fear is failure to protect in the home," Pastor Mark said, "I present a perfectly good solution." He gestured to a woman seated a few rows away from Rafael. "Instead of a group living situation with at-risk teens, Evangeline has an aunt." The pastor looked back upfront. "That's her father's sister. She drove all night from Jolene to be here, and she is willing to assume temporary custody."

The judge shook her head. "I need a home study and assurances that this court's orders will be respected."

The young girl freaked out. "No, she'll take me back to Ohio!"

Good. She didn't sound too emotional. Enough to pull on the family court judge's heartstrings, but come across as though she knew what she wanted.

Pastor Mark sighed. "My clients have no intention of violating a court order, Your Honour. They only want to take care of their daughter."

Langan took the leap. "The Millers' main agenda is to force a 13-year-old rape victim to carry to term. To prevent her from exercising her right to choose."

The mother finally found her voice, it seemed. "Evie would never choose murder."

And so did the step-father. "I don't know who's gotten into her head, but this is not the daughter we raised."

Evangeline yelled again. "No, I can't go back home!"

The shock was written all over the mother's face. "Evangeline!"

The girl's hands were shaking. "I can't... because he put this baby inside me!" She then pointed directly at step-father.

Everyone was shocked at the outburst, to say the least. Still, if it was genuine, it meant they actually stood a chance at being able to help the young teen.

Back at SVU, Rafael got to explain to Olivia that the Mercer County D.A promised to open up and investigation. But, only _after_ Evangeline went back to Ohio for questioning. There was also now a court-ordered stay on the abortion. Olivia figured they were more worried about stopping the abortion that stopping the abuse, and Rafael couldn't disagree.

Carisi asked if they were sure it is him, and Olivia says if Evangeline wanted to blame the stepfather she would have done that in the first place.

"She's right," Rafael said, "this is the last thing she wanted to reveal. That seemed like a genuine admission back there to me. We assumed it was Issac. She never once actually said it was. Only that she needed his help."

"I'm going to sit down with her and Rollins," Olivia said, "try and get the full story. I'm going to send Officer Tamin and Fin to speak with the step-father as well."

"Good," he said. "I've got to go, but keep me in the loop."

After quickly grabbing a sandwich and coffee for lunch, he ran back to the office, gathering everything for the arraignment hearing he had that afternoon for one of his smaller cases.

The hearing could have gone better. Bail ended up being less than Rafael would've liked, but, at least he hadn't gotten ROR. Still, Defence Counsel was beyond thrilled with the nominal bail.

He just hoped they didn't get any more curveballs today.

With court done for the day, he talked to a couple of his witnesses before meeting with Olivia and Fin at his office. He really needed to get filled in on any new developments, giving the shift in direction the case was quickly taking.

Apparently, the abused started the day after she turned eleven. She tried once to tell her mom but the woman wouldn't listen, she simply got mad. He apparently told Evangeline that if her mother found out he would have to leave them, pressuring her into keeping it a secret.

It got better when Fin explained that the pastor was found driving James to the airport, and James had accused Satan of being responsible for what transpired in the courtroom earlier.

Fin looked rather pleased, explaining that Officer Tamin had jumped down the guy's throat, not unlike what Fin had a penchant for.

"Yeah," Olivia quipped. "She's an underachiever. Read through all of our active cases, and all major cases for the last five years. All without being asked."

Fin nodded. "She did good."

"Glad to have competence on our side," Rafael said. "Did the step-father agree to give DNA when asked?"

"No," Fin stated. "They don't wanna _lend credence to persecution."_

He rolled his eyes. "Of course, they don't. The DNA will get him convicted in seconds."

Olivia nodded. "He's definitely good for this."

After meeting with Rafael, it turned out Evangeline's mother wanted to talk. She stated she knew Evangeline is lying about her husband, and Olivia tried to talk some sense into her. Told her Evangeline offered to give a blood sample and now all they need is her husband's to prove his innocence. The mother stated they should wait until after the baby is born, that it was a miracle. No matter how the baby got there.

Meanwhile, Rafael had a meeting with McCoy, and Rollins headed down to the ACS facility where Evangeline was staying, to talk to her.

Stressed out from the case, and just generally feeling torn, he went for a walk, heading to a Catholic church he knew was nearby.

Finally, Rafael got the call from Langan. Family court was ready to rule. He just hoped it went in their favour, for the girl's sake.


	85. Chapter 85

Once everyone coming into the courtroom settled down, finally seated, Judge Blake wasted little time getting to the crux of the matter. "I'm satisfied Evangeline understands the ramifications of her decision, and that this decision is hers alone.

"She can't kill our grandbaby!" Evangeline's mother cried out.

The judge looked down at the mother with a clear look of compassion. "Mrs. Miller, I realize this is difficult, but your daughter has rights."

Mrs. Miller looked like she had something more to say, but whatever it was, she never got the chance to say, given the interruption that followed. "Your Honour. We demand an immediate cessation of these proceedings."

The judge looked over at the man speaking. "And you are?"

"Forreston Graham," the man said, "Mercer County D.A's office. I'm here to protect the rights of the unborn baby Miller. I have a writ of habeas corpus - Asserting that the State of New York is illegally holding Evangeline Miller." The judge looked on, wondering where this was going. "I also have arrest warrants for the detectives involved in this case."

Now that surprised Rafael. What the hell was that man playing at? "What charge? Rafael Barba, Manhattan D.A's office."

The man looked at him; expression neutral. "I have an arrest warrant for you too."

"I'm flattered," he quipped. "On what charges?"

"Anyone who facilitates the murder of this baby will be charged with causing fetal harm and conspiracy to commit murder," the man said, "and is subject to immediate prosecution in the State of Ohio." Counsellor Graham stepped towards the judge, placing a paper in front of her. "Here's one for you too, Judge. So whatever decision you were about to hand down, I'd think twice about making an irrevocable mistake."

The judge bit her lip, and Rafael stepped forward undeterred. "I believe in the sanctity of life as well, but a 13-year-old girl forced to carry her rapist's baby? You want a fight, you're going to get one."

He didn't pay attention to the man's snarky reply. He'd not been able to stop himself from laughing ridiculously when the man finally left, however.

Rollins looked at him and back to Olivia. "And he's finally lost it."

Olivia quirked an eyebrow. "Care to enlighten the rest of us?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine, honestly. but for the love of God, I seriously have to be the only D.A to have been brought up on child murder charges twice. In two different states, no less."

The judge just shook her head. "I'm not even sure what to say to that."

He gave a snort. "Good luck." He waved for everyone to leave. "Let's go see what the idiot tells the media. It'll no doubt be a circus."

It really hadn't been hard to find him. "I may be just a simple country lawyer in the big city, but I am here to speak for the one who has no voice. To advocate for the most innocent victim of all; this unborn child."

There was a sea of cheers and boos and calls of "Pro-choice!"

Several people had also yelled out questions, trying to be heard over the nose. "Did the stepfather get her pregnant?"

"Mercer County D.A's Office intends to conduct a full and thorough investigation, but that has no bearing on this matter," the man replied. "The baby is innocent of all sin and is deserving of life."

More cheers and boos followed.

"A statute in Ohio guarantees that this unborn baby -"

He looked at Olivia. "Told you."

"- is a human being."

"Do you think they're serious?" Olivia asked.

He snorted. "Yes, but they don't have jurisdiction. It'll go to court and then get laughed out. It's preposterous on its face."

"- But it's the Declaration of Independence that promises life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but the first is life!"

Shaking his head, he went ahead and made a public statement in response to the mess that had just happened, and contacted McCoy who couldn't believe Rafael's really weird sense of well, not luck exactly, but something.

While they had some time, they went and grabbed a quick lunch, before getting called to Criminal Court. Assistant Corporation Counsel would meet them there.

Olivia groaned. "This should be fun."

He rubbed her back. "It'll be fine. They have no jurisdiction."

He hoped he was telling her the truth.

"Let me get this straight, Mr. Graham," Judge Martinez said, "the State of Ohio has issued arrest warrants for New York City detectives, and you're asking this court to detain these detectives for transfer?"

"Yes," the man said. "We ask that the officers immediately turn themselves in to the Mercer County D.A's office."

The Assistant Counsel, Haley Brogan, was right beside Rafael, but easily agreed to let him have the floor.

"This is unprecedented," Rafael said. "Your Honour, Ohio has no standing in this matter. It's a family court proceeding."

"We see this as a criminal case," the Ohio Attorney retorted. "The girl made a premeditated decision. We have her computer searches for abortion providers in New York. The detectives, and Mr. Barba, in willful disregard for the Ohio laws, are attempting to facilitate her access to abortion." He looked at them. "According to the Ohio statute, they're accessories to murder."

"First of all, Your Honour," Counsellor Brogan replied, "that law has not yet taken effect. It's been blocked by a federal judge."

Graham looked at Brogan. "There's also the issue of fetal harm."

Rafael didn't quite let the other attorney finish. "And we'd also argue, the detectives are mandated to enforce New York law, which requires them to protect the lawful reproductive rights of a minor."

Now the Ohio attorney's irritation was starting to show. He really did remind Rafael of Buchanan in some ways. "There's precedent for comity, respect for the laws of another state."

Brogan spoke up. "We ask that New York give Ohio law the full faith and credit."

Rafael gave her a quick look, silently asking for permission to speak. She nodded, so he took the room back. "We'd also like to argue that the D.A from Mercer County's got it backwards. Ohio should give New York full faith and comity by respecting our choice to protect the rights of young women." Brogan gave a nod of agreement as Rafael continued. "Simply put, Your Honour, you cannot expect a New York State court to hand over its New York City police officers for simply doing their jobs."

"Yes, our motion is extreme," Graham agreed, "but what is happening here is pure evil. A modern-day genocide. When future generations look back on this, they will weep. There will be blood on all of your hands."

"That's enough, Mr. Graham!" the judge said.

"You're gonna hold me in contempt?"

The judge sighed. "No one's holding you in contempt."

Rafael thought she should've if he was being honest with himself. Great. Give the idiot even more leeway. That's what he needs.

And off Graham went. "Hitler murdered 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. The United States, since Roe versus Wade, has killed 55 million babies. I intend to do everything in my power not to see that number rise by one more child."

Rafael snorted. "In Roe v. Wade, The U.S Supreme Court ruled that a state law that banned abortions was unconstitutional. You literally just proved why your case is complete nonsense, Counsellor."

The judge looked at the Ohio attorney. "I agree. Mr. Graham, I'm denying Ohio's request for detainer."

"In that case, Your Honour, we appeal," the man said. "We intend to take this up to the Supreme Court, if necessary."

"And that's your right, Mr. Graham," the judge stated simply.

As everyone filed out, Rafael was wracking his brain for what to do if the Appeals Court accepted Ohio's case.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Counsellor Brogan got his attention. "Mr. Barba, come with me, please."

He nodded, telling Liv he'd see her later, and making his way over to the counsellor.

Thankfully, it had been nothing. She just had a few questions about the squad, this case, and their conduct, and him, that she wanted answered, just so she was as prepared as possible if the appeal was granted.

The unfortunate thing is Family Court had opted to not make a ruling until Ohio's arrest warrants were dismissed, if they were.

This case had been dog from the start but had apparently caught more than a few fleas along the way.

He walked into the 16th precinct, grinning.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Rollins asked.

"Appeals court just refused to hear Ohio's case," Rafael said, passing out the coffee he brought. "Even some pro-life groups thought the charges were ridiculous."

"Well, they are," Olivia stated matter-of-factly.

"What about the stay on the abortion?" Officer Tamin asked.

"Family court didn't want to make a ruling until Ohio's arrest warrants have been dismissed," Rafael explained. "They're still deliberating."

"For how long?" the officer asked. "She's twelve weeks pregnant. Any day after the first trimester, - it gets more complicated."

"And that's part of Ohio's plan," Olivia said, "to run out the clock."

"I'm sorry," Tamin said, "what century is this? All these old white men trying to control women's bodies? I mean, how far off are we from 'The Handmaid's Tale'?"

"You grew up taking these rights for granted," Olivia said, "My mother, there was a time when she considered abortion, and her only option was back-alley. The bottom line is, if you have enough money, there's always a way. But it's these poor women, these girls... in some states, they're gonna see deaths. That's where this is going."

"They think that's what we're going back to," Tamin said.

"Fundamentalists, they see abortion as deaths," Rafael said.

"You're Catholic, right?" Tamin said. "Is that what you think?"

"What I think is what I think," he said. "But, I'm pretty far from a fundamentalist in many ways. Let's not bring politics into the office, though, Officer."

To her credit, Tamin nodded. "Alright, Counsellor."

Olivia's phone rang, and as she looked at the screen, Rafael immediately noticed the colour leave her face. "What?"

"It's Rollins," Olivia said after a moment. It wasn't hard to tell whatever that text said wasn't good. "Evangeline just threw herself down a flight of stairs."


	86. Chapter 86

Rafael had a meeting with Evangeline's social worker, and Trevor Langan, while several of the detectives went to see the young teen and find out how she was doing.

Thankfully, even though it was apparently made clear the mother still didn't fully believe her daughter, it looked like Evangeline was going to be just fine. No serious injuries from the accident.

Given the hour, after making a few work calls, Rafael decided to call it a day, Olivia not hesitating to follow suit after a brief chat with Evangeline's mother. She really wanted to get through to Tammy. After the last few days, they wanted some family time, so she quickly made her way home.

They played a few board games together and ordered in Chinese food for dinner, after which they brought out some popcorn and soda, letting Noah pick out a movie for them to watch together. Of course, Sofia didn't exactly have the attention span for it and went to bed rather early, regardless, but while she was awake, she seemed fine sitting around with them, occasionally looking at what was going on in the movie, and playing with her hands.

He stretched and groaned as he slowly woke up. He reached over to hide his face against his wife, causing Olivia to gently shove him away.

"Rafa, Honey," she said. "You'll be late for court if you don't get up."

"Ten more minutes," he said groggily.

"Rafa -"

"Five then," he grumbled.

"Yes, I know. The bed's comfortable." She rolled over and pulled the blankets off him. "So don't make me dump cold water all over it."

He groaned. "Fine. I'm up. I'm up."

She chuckled. "You're lucky you're cute."

He kissed her. "And here I thought you were with me for my brains."

She gave him a look of amusement. "Maybe that too."

He smirked. "Thought so."

She chuckled. "Get up, old man."

He gave her a cheeky wink. "I'll have you know, Cariño, I'm like a fine wine."

He could hear her laughing as he walked away, going to get ready for work.

After a quick shower, he went through his suits, opting for one of his navy blue suits with a white, checkered, dress shirt with a yellow tie and matching pocket square.

Once he was ready, he helped Liv and Noah before kissing them goodbye, and running out the door and taking off for work.

"I'm sorry for not protecting my daughter," Mrs. Miller said. "What my husband did... God tells us to forgive, and I believe in His word." She took a deep breath. "But I also believe my daughter." She looked right at Evangeline. "I hope that she can forgive me."

"Thank you, Mrs. Miller," Judge Blake said. "You may step down."

Langan didn't miss a beat. "The State requests remand to ACS for two weeks to ensure Evangeline has access to the medical care she needs."

The judge nodded. "So ordered. After clearance from her doctors, Evangeline will be returned to the custody of her mother on the condition she received ongoing counselling, and that James Miller has been permanently removed from the home."

"Your Honour," Langan said, "I'm in contact with Child Services in Ohio. If they find out that Tammy Miller has allowed any contact by James Miller with his stepdaughter, Evangeline will be removed from her mother's custody."

"Is the Ohio D.A going to prosecute Mr. Miller?" the judge asked.

"That's unclear at this point, Your Honour," the man replied.

"I see." The judge looked at Evangeline. "Good luck to you, Evangeline. I sincerely wish you all the best."

As court came to a close, and everyone was making their way out of the courtroom, low chatter could be heard in every direction, everyone voicing their opinion.

He hadn't expected the person who walked up behind him: ADA Graham.

"Well, Counsellor, you destroyed a family, and helped ensure the murder of another innocent child."

"You can like or dislike me," he said matter-of-factly. "You are entitled to form an opinion about me, and I don't particularly care what it is."

"Are you a father?"

He nodded. "I am."

"Then what kind of example are you setting them?" the other man said. "You're teaching them murder is acceptable."

He stepped forward. "I'm teaching them to be tolerant. To think for themselves." He eyed the man. "Now, I'm Catholic. I was raised in the church. However, religion has been used to justify everything from genocide to the war against Christmas. I also don't get to impose my own beliefs on others. We have freedom of religion in this country, the last time I checked."

"We do," the man acknowledge.

Rafael considered the situation for a moment. "Do you have a daughter, Mr. Graham?"

"No," he said, "but I have a young niece."

"How old?"

"She's nine. Her name's Mackenzie."

"Then I can't imagine that you think it's right that a man who has so lost his way, has so abandoned God, that he would rape his own stepdaughter," he said, "that he should get away with that. Do the right thing. Prosecute him. Send the message that twisting religion to abuse young girls is not acceptable. Protect that girl the way you would want someone to protect your niece if god forbid something happened to her." With that, he walked away, leaving the man to consider the situation.

He ran into Carisi when leaving his office some time later.

"Carisi," he said, "can I do something for you?"

"I just thought I'd check in, Rafael," Carisi said. "This case has been a mess. I've been to mass more than a few times this week myself."

He gave a tight-lipped smile. "You're not the only one, Sonny. Where's the girlfriend?"

Carisi shrugged. "The hospital with Evangeline." Rafael nodded, understanding what the man wasn't saying. That she was with Evangeline so she wouldn't be alone during the operation. "There's got to be a middle ground somewhere, but nobody can seem to find it. So many people on both sides are so extreme."

He nodded. "I have a few friends and family who are católico myself."

"My mother got pregnant when she was forty-five," the other man said. "This is after having four kids." Rafael nodded. "An ultrasound showed that the baby had a fetal heart defect. Even if she was able to carry to term, the doctor said the baby wasn't gonna live for more than a few days. My mother decided to terminate. She never told my father. He... she told me. She said how much she loved that baby, but she didn't think it was fair. It wasn't fair to her other children. It wasn't fair to that kid. It was only gonna know pain." Rafael was fighting to keep a neutral expression, the conversation bringing back a lot of buried feelings regarding Drew Householder. "And then she cried for a week," Carisi said, emotion in his voice. "I didn't know I didn't know what to say to her, but I do know that we both grieved."

"Of course you did," Rafael said. "That must've been hard, seeing your mother like that. Especially when you were grappling with your own issues."

"It was," Carisi said. "I wanted so badly to help her, but she needed time. We both did. To process the situation." He looked at Rafael. "It's largely why I was useless during your trial."

"What?" he said, not expecting the turn of conversation.

"I wanted to be there and support you," Carisi said, "but I couldn't. I should've, but I was trying to reconcile everything with my faith and with it being... well, you. I guess I never really apologized for not being there for you when you could've used a friend."

"I never blamed you, Sonny!" Rafael assured the other man. "I had no right to do what I did, and was fighting with myself as well."

Conversation winding down between the two men, Rafael slowly gathered up his stuff, walking with the blond detective out to the parking lot and heading home.

He wasn't altogether surprised when word finally came back, just as he was getting home that evening, that the DNA came back and officially confirmed James Miller was the father and that the Ohio D.A was charging the poor excuse of a stepfather with 114 counts of rape of a child.

The young teen was in for a long, uphill battle, but hoped that the girl's therapy would help her get her life back. Help her to salvage what little of her childhood she had left.


	87. Chapter 87

Mid-November came around rapidly, as they were busy with work, several events for their organization and, Noah's birthday.

They also had several checks from child services, all of which had gone well, thankfully. And the courts had still not located any suitable relatives to take in Sofia, and it didn't look like it was going to happen. She'd officially been declared a ward of the state of New York.

For Noah's birthday, they got up, played a few games with him, and let him have some hot chocolate. Once Cragen arrived, because they'd managed to rope him into babysitting Sofia so they could focus on Noah, they chatted some before letting Noah open the presents from the three of them.

He'd gotten Stomp Rocket Stunt Planes, a K'NEX building set, as well as a Lego Ninjago Movie Master Falls Building Kit, which Noah was thrilled about.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Olivia chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm. "You're welcome, sweet boy."

He ruffled Noah's hair. "Well, it's not every day you turn seven, now is it? Just take care of them properly, ok?"

"I will!" Noah promised. "And thank you again, Mr. Don."

Cragen smiled down at the birthday boy. "My pleasure. I've got to go, but have enough fun for the both of us, hmmm?"

They then took Noah out for breakfast with Rafael's mother as well as Lucy, both of whom let Noah open the gifts from them right there in the restaurant.

Then, given it was fairly nice out and Noah was dressed for the weather, they took him to Central Park until it was time to go to Kanga's Indoor Playcenter, in Queens, where they were having Noah's birthday party along with a pizza lunch, chips, pop, and, of course, cake. Having the party there meant that the kids had a lot of activities to do and space to run around, and yet the slightly colder weather would pose little issue. Noah had invited more than a few of his classmates, as well as several other friends from different activities he'd been involved in. Jesse, of course, was also there. As well as Gabriela. They'd kept in touch with the Sosas, who were doing well, adjusting to life in the city. They'd moved around a far amount at first, but Maria finally got a steady full-time job at Havana Café, so the mother and daughter settled down comfortably in the Bronx, with Gabriela now attending Santa Maria School, and was, fortunately, doing rather well there.

They took the evening a little easier, ordering in a light dinner, but, all in all, it'd been a long but fun day. Noah had had little issues falling asleep, given the fact that the now-seven-year-old boy was completely exhausted by the end of the day.

Sunday was a calmer day, but before they knew it, it was Monday again, and it was back to work and school for everyone.

They were up a little earlier, so had a little time to actually sit down for breakfast and read the newspaper before having to run off.

**Karate teacher who preyed on young girls to get 10 years in prison**

**Executive A.D.A. Barba: Martial Arts Instructor Pleads Guilty to Sexually Abusing Teenage Students, Photographing Abuse**

_A Manhattan karate instructor pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually abusing four young girls and possessing a trove of child porn documenting the sick acts._

_Michael Fallon copped to five counts of use of a child in a sexual performance and four counts of sexual abuse in exchange for ten years in prison as part of a plea deal struck in Manhattan Supreme Court._

_The prosecution says that Fallon, 48, preyed on students as young as ten years old inside his basement studio on Columbus Ave on the Upper West Side._

_He told his victims that he needed to evaluate their bodies then groped and massaged them and photographed them topless, according to court papers._

_"As a martial arts instructor, this defendant used his unfettered access to children to manipulate and abuse them," said Manhattan D.A Rafael Barba in a statement. "But now, thanks to the prosecutors in my office's Special Victims Bureau, this defendant has finally been brought to justice and he will face significant jail time for his abusive conduct. If you or a loved one has been a victim of a crime, I urge you to report it to our Special Victims Bureau by calling (212) 555-5555."_

_Following his June 2019 arraignment, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office executed a search warrant on the defendant's cloud account and found more than 100 images of child pornography, including images of the victims from the earlier indictment. On September 19, 2019, Fallon was arraigned on a second 102-count indictment, charging him with Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance as a Sexually Motivated Felony and other related charges._

_Assistant D.A. Alexander Stewart handled the prosecution of the case under the supervision of Executive Assistant D.A. Rafael Barba, Chief of the Special Victims Bureau as well as Executive Assistant D.A. _Roydell Getty_, Chief of the Trial Division._

Olivia looked at him, Sofia cooing in her arms. "Well done."

"Appreciated," he said, downing the rest of his coffee. "With that being said, I do got to go: bail and plea hearings."

"Can you take Noah to school today?" she asked. "I have to go straight to Mercy Hospital this morning to speak with a victim."

"Of course, Cariño," he said, giving her a quick kiss before calling the young boy who was playing away in the next room. They both said goodbye to Liv, before running out the door."

After dropping Noah off, he ran to the District Attorney's Office, where he struggled to find parking, just making it to the bail hearing on time.

That had been over and done with fairly quickly, and he subsequently had to go to a plea hearing immediately following that one. The defendant had hesitated to follow through on the deal, but after very little fight followed the terms of the deal. Thankfully. He'd had more than one defendant completely turncoat over the years, and it was a dose of professional humiliation he didn't care for right now.

He then had a meeting with one of his witnesses, after which he met with Rita Calhoun regarding a case. A plea bargain agreement. That took him until about half-past-twelve in the afternoon. He was having a bit of a later lunch. Wanting something more substantial than a sandwich, he walked over to Forlini's, trying to answer most of his work emails while eating. He did, admittedly, get pulled into texting Liv and Eddy as well, but had no guilt over the fact, considering he was already having a work lunch.

After he finished eating, he paid for his meal, and heading back to his office, buying a coffee and snack for later.

Catching up on the handful of calls he missed, he finally had a bit of a reprieve and sat down just focusing on his caseload. Managing his files, and doing research on the Fourth Amendment right of seizure.

He did that until about a quarter to four and then headed down to the 16th's SVU to briefly discuss one of his cases.

He then tried to quickly get them some more warrants before having to run to a different precinct to help one of the less experienced ADAs, as their case had just become a lot more convoluted.

By the end of the day, Rafael was glad to get home. His head was pounding, and it took everything he had not to throttle Buchanan, who was being his usual, not so pleasant self. No surprise there, to be honest.

Olivia had had an interesting day herself, so they were all for it when Noah suggested a movie night, giving both adults the chance to just relax and forget work for a while.

Still, no matter how stressed Rafael was, going home and having Noah grinning and smiling and asking to play made everything worth it.


	88. Chapter 88

Thanksgiving Day rolled around, and they spent that Thursday at Bryant Park before heading to dinner at his mother's place.

Fin and Tamin, both of whom volunteered to be on duty until four o'clock in the afternoon had ended up having to deal with a few drunken incidents throughout the day. Thankfully, it was a slower day, so they were able to get off on time, go visit family, and deal with the rest of the mess on the following day.

Friday morning was a bit of a catch-up period, but taking the previous day off had been more than worth it in both their opinions. There had to be some perks to being upper management after all. Regardless, Rafael had two back-to-back hearings that morning before both he and Olivia had to grab a quick lunch and head to Brooklyn Law School as part of the 2019 _Vision For Change_ conference that they'd been asked to present at that afternoon, for which he may or may not have bought a new three-piece suit and a new pocket square to go with it.

"One in three women and one in six men are survivors of sexual violence," Olivia said. "One in four women and one in seven men have suffered severe violence from an intimate partner. Those numbers alone almost make my head explode," she said. "We have an opportunity to get justice for these victims and aren't prioritizing it."

She looked at Rafael, who took over the floor. "And if the backlog wasn't enough, the destruction of rape kits now brings our country's attitude toward sexual assault and its victims into even sharper focus. Explore CNN's investigative report and you will learn about 99 agencies in 47 states destroying rape kits. About a detective in North Carolina who authorized the trashing of a rape kit a month after it was collected from a woman who was gang-raped because the investigator didn't believe her. And about records showing kits were trashed as recently as 2016 - with one of the objectives being to 'make space in the evidence room.'" He paused to let that sink in. "That is an outrageous, shameful level of disregard and the system that makes it possible must change. Just as the backlog is a reflection of how we regard sexual assault and its victims in this country, the individual actions and decisions by law enforcement are the outcome of deeply entrenched societal attitudes that make those actions and decisions possible. Those attitudes must be dismantled. And what must change are the laws governing the handling of rape kits."

Olivia closed the conference, and Rafael found one comment Olivia made particularly powerful. _'If you've got stacks of physical evidence of a crime, and you're not doing everything you can with the evidence, then you must be making a decision that this isn't a very serious crime." Beyond the obvious threat to public safety, beyond the wasted opportunities to both prosecute the guilty and exonerate the wrongly convicted, the backlog sends a devastating and inexcusable message to survivors: You don't matter. What happened to you doesn't matter.'_

Overall, the conference had gone very well, thankfully, and Rafael had also talked with McCoy multiple times regarding funding, so he was rather pleased when it became clear that night that funding was going to come through.

The article in the newspaper the following morning made them both smile. Hopefully, some good would come out of all of this.

**Manhattan D.A. pledges $35M to end untested 'rape kit' backlog in U.S.**

_The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has pledged up to $35 million in grant money to help end a nationwide backlog of untested "rape kits," a move that could help uncover serial offenders after similar efforts led to a slew of convictions in Detroit._

_"To have hundreds of thousands of rape kits untested is unacceptable. Rape victims nationwide deserve to know that the invasive examination they underwent had a purpose, and the resulting kit was not left to gather dust on a forgotten shelf," D.A Jack McCoy said at a news briefing. "But more than that, DNA evidence, consistently prosecutors' most reliable and cost-effective tool, solves crimes across state lines."_

"Where's he getting the money?" Olivia asked.

"Funds seized through asset forfeiture laws," he explained. "Jack thinks, and I don't disagree, that it should be put to good use."

She smiled a little wider. "I'm just glad we're getting the support."

"I'm not the only one who can be quite convincing when I want to be," he said, giving her a look of pride. "You're a dab hand yourself."

She gave him a pleased looked. "I learned from the best."

He chuckled. "As much as I'd like to take credit, it's all yours." He kissed her quickly. "This entire thing was your idea, and you have no idea how proud of you I am."

Both he and Olivia got stuck at work Saturday morning, however. Olivia taking over Fin's morning shift, as he'd worked late in her place, and Rafael, catching up on the work he'd fallen behind on the last of couple days.

They then went for a small lunch date at Follia before finally heading home to the kids for the rest of the day, just playing games and spending time with them.

Sunday, after mass, they had lunch with his mother and then the Barba-Benson clan headed to the American Museum of Natural History with Carisi and the Rollins family.

Not for the first time, both Carisi and Rafael found themselves on history tangents when the kids asked questions about the different things they were seeing.

After they had enough of the museum, they went to grab some hot chocolate and coffee for everyone before going to the park for a while.

After about an hour at the park, everyone went their separate ways.

Once they were home, Olivia fed Sofia again, chatting in front of the TV with Noah, while Rafael threw dinner together. Picadillo con papas, rice, fried sweet plantains, a salad, and torrejas - Cuban Sweet Toast - for dessert.

"Once again," Olivia said, adjusting Sofia's position on her lap, "you hit it out of the park." She took a bite of the dessert. "Your culinary skills alone are reason enough to keep you around."

Noah chimed in, nodding his head. "It's really really yummy! You're a better cook than Mama is." He looked at his mother. "But I still love you."

"Ouch!" Liv said, laughing slightly. "But he's not wrong. I've gotten a lot better, but there is a reason I'm apparently known as the Take-Out-Queen. Elliot Stabler came over one day when I was sick and I had absolutely no groceries in the apartment. He noticed, and, of course, commented on it. My only reply was, _'They invented this great thing. It's called delivery._'"

Rafael laughed. "I can honestly believe that." He looked at Noah. "And as much as I appreciate the compliment Noah, we can be respectful to your mom, ok?"

"Ok, Papi!" Noah gave Olivia a hug. "Sorry, Mama."

"It's fine, sweet boy." She ruffled his hair some. "Finish eating so you can go have a quick shower before bed."

"Ok," Noah said as he started to quickly shovel food back in his mouth.

Rafael rolled his eyes. "Chew, Mijo. Honestly."

Candace Cameron Bure once said that the memories we made with our family were everything. He just hoped that these little moments meant at least half as much to Noah as he knew they did to both him and Olivia.


	89. Chapter 89

Olivia got home from work well after one o'clock and Rafael, feeling very groggy, was in the living room, rocking Sofia back to sleep in his arms.

Once Sofia was back in bed, the pair talked briefly, over a cup of coffee. It was late, but they needed some time to themselves.

Apparently, mere minutes from the end of the late shift, the SVU squad had three separate felony assault cases come in. That meant they had a few things in regards to each case to deal with before they could go home, switching out with the night shift.

He laughed. "I bet Tamin'll never say the q-word again.'

"Damn straight Kat won't," Olivia quipped, "but we'll figure it out. I'm afraid you may have lost your weekend as well, however." She looked at him, amused. "Our night was lovely until she had to go mention how quiet things were."

He squeezed her hand. "Between Lucy and Mami we'll figure it out. Eddie would even probably be willing to take the kids for a couple of hours if really needed." He gave her a soft smile. "We'll figure it out. I promise."

Fin got the sexual assault and beating case in the projects. The victim was Joelle Fuller, the perp was her husband Leon who left before they got there. The pair were separated, but not yet divorced. The young son, Andre, called 911. Fin made sure the wife was safe at Mercy Hospital, convinced her to get a rape kit, and grabbed the son dinner before taking him to Joelle's sister's place for the night.

Rollins and Carisi caught a 'HailMe' gone bad. The girl, Chloe, had been assaulted in the car and called her father in a panic. Chloe's mother, Nicole, had gone to Spence with Hadid, one of Rafael's ADAs. Hadid, upon being contacted, gave her friend Olivia's number and said she was terrific. Chloe would, unfortunately, be spending the night at Columbus Memorial

Elsewhere, Tamin caught a case with a trans-woman who was beaten up by a john. Tamin dealt with the rather crass cop, who arrested the victim, before telling another officer on seen to radio Mercy Ed and tell them they needed a SANE nurse with trans experience, before escorting the woman, Lakira, who Tamin actually knew, to the hospital.

After catching Rafael up on the night's happenings and Rafael sharing some of what was going on with the kids, they were exhausted and called it a night.

It was going to be an early morning, that much was clear.

Rafael groaned when the alarm went off, before getting up. He quietly got dressed, but Olivia was still half asleep, exhausted. He'd gotten more sleep out of the two of them.

She didn't notice when Rafael tossed Noah onto the bed. "Whoop, there we go. Get your mama. Get her."

Olivia laughed. "Oof. Denied."

"Mama, get up. It's breakfast time."

"Ok," she said, yawning. "I'm up."

When Olivia was done showering and getting dressed, it was to find Noah and Rafael sitting down to freshly made pancakes for breakfast, and a fed, dressed, and cooing Sofia, hanging out in her playpen.

Rafael placed a plate in front of Olivia. "Eat up."

She quirked an eyebrow. "And if I'm late?"

"Fin's got your back," Rafael said with a smirk. "Faster you eat the faster you can go deal with the mess and come home."

She rolled her eyes, reaching for the syrup. "What are you guys going to do today?"

"Mami's coming over for lunch," he said, "and we'll probably go for a walk or something. Noah also mentioned something about books."

"Oh?"

"I want a new book," Noah said. "I read all my stories."

"How about you pick out two?"

Noah grinned. "Thanks, Mama."

She raised an eyebrow. "But that's only if you behave for your dad, understood."

Noah nodded eagerly, in between bites of pancake. "I promise."

Once Olivia had left for work, he spent the morning playing lego and some other games with Noah, also making sure Sofia got some tummy time, playing with her, and just generally messing around, before his mother came over for lunch.

They went to the park for awhile once his mother left, after visiting for a couple of hours, as she had promised to meet up with a good friend of hers that afternoon that she hadn't seen in a while, and the weather was nice.

They'd then stopped by a café for hot chocolate, before stopping by the book store, as Noah had requested. He grabbed Noah's books, a couple of new ones for himself, and grabbed a couple of things for Sofia as well on their way home.

He'd just thrown a load of laundry in the dryer, when he got a call from Olivia, saying he really needed to come down to the station.

He quickly texted Lucy, apologizing for calling her in but asking if she was available. Within the hour, Lucy was there and Rafael was rushing down to the precinct to deal with whatever mess couldn't wait until Monday.

He was quickly brought up to speed, before being shown to one of the interrogation rooms, where Leon Fuller was seated, looking none too remorseful.

"She looked like that when I came by."

"Stop it, man," Fin said. "We know that's not true."

"I'm telling you," Leon said, "Wasn't me."

Fin didn't even try to hide the fact he didn't believe a word coming out of the man's mouth. "We have audio. We have witnesses. We have DNA. You know what that means? That means, A, you're a wife-beating rapist or, B, you had a bad night. Which one is it?"

"Neither."

"Man," the sergeant said, "I've seen this so many times before. Guy, post-breakup, gets a little drunk, thinks he can still get it in, she ain't with it."

Leon chuckled. "Joelle wanted the pipe."

"She told you she wanted to have sex?"

"She said next time I wanted her, I'd have to force myself on her," Leon said, clearly amused. I'm just doing what she wanted."

Tearing his eyes away from the integration, he looked at Olivia. "Well, that's one down."

Olivia heaved a sigh. "Well, yes and no. So our victim, Joelle, won't let us test her rape kit. Now we have the son's 911 audio. CSU is working the apartment."

"Alright," he said. "Preferably she cooperates, but we can do this without her. I want to hear that audio, however."

"I'll get the file sent to you."

He nodded. "What else have you got for me?"

She gestured for him to follow her one room down. "Uh, this is the HailMe driver. Mohammed Sayeed."

"He's not in holding?"

"He asked me which way was east," Olivia explained. "I didn't want to make him pray in the holding cell."

He nodded.

"He's the attempted rape on, uh Chloe," she continued to explain. "Chloe Cooper. Uh, she picked him out of a six-pack this morning."

And she's why Hadid texted me from her sister's wedding in Ravello at 4:00 in the morning?"

"Yes."

"So this all happened off of the West Side Highway?" he questioned. Did you check his phone GPS?"

She shook her head. "He refused to give us his passwords."

"What a surprise," he said. "Is Chloe credible?"

"Amanda has doubts," she admitted

Rafael sighed. "Great." He gestured in the man's direction. "What's he saying?"

"He's saying that he didn't do it," she said, "and he wants a lawyer."

Rafael snorted. "Legal aid on a long weekend? Good luck."

He didn't get to ask his next question, as the conversation was interrupted by Officer Tamin's appearance. "Captain, Mr. Barba, I may have a lead. I found a parking ticket."

"Okay, hold up," Olivia said, "Which case?"

"Lakira Baca," Tamin said. "She's the trans woman Assaulted at the piers, right."

"Got it," Olivia said. "What do you have?"

"I found a parking ticket for a late-model, gull-wing sports car, 10:00 p.m," Tamin explained. "One block away. Owner lives in Scarsdale." Tamin pulled out a photo, showing it to the prosecutor and captain. "Paul Davies, 40, corporate attorney."

"So, this'll be a slice," he said sarcastically. "Anything else?"

"Well, he paid for parking six times over the last nine weeks at the piers," Tamin said.

Rafael quirked an eyebrow. "That's suspicious, but it's not probative."

Tamin wasted no time in responding. "He matches Lakira's description of a strong-jawed, blue-eyed vulture."

"All right," Olivia said, "so bring her in to make an ID."

"I already called," Tamin stated. "She's on her way up."

The captain nodded. "Okay." As Officer Tamin left, he turned to Olivia. "Revet Chloe, traffic cams, all of it." He said. "As for the attorney, make sure -"

"Move slowly and deliberately," Olivia said, "I know." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "It'll be fine."

He and Olivia were back in the main squad room, as he was going to head home when Rollins walked in with April Andrews who he quickly learned was Mohammed's attorney.

He explained that the man was looking at attempted rape and first-degree criminal sex abuse, and Counsellor Andrews immediately quipped that he didn't complete the rape.

Rollins commented that Lakira fought him off, and Andrews demanded that Rafael knock it down to a misdemeanour and with her client on board and they could all still have a weekend.

Naturally, that comment seriously appalled Olivia, who said the man forced himself on the victim in his car. She wasn't concerned about her _weekend_.

In the interview room, Rafael, there with Tamin, showed Lakira a photo array and she picked out Paul Davies. Tamin asks if she is okay, and Lakira says no – _the jury looks at him and then looks at her, and who will they choose? His eyes shine money._

Unfortunately, Rafael didn't know what to say to that besides to say they'd do their very best. He knew she was right, that money talked. Still, that didn't mean the case couldn't be won. He had gone after bigger fish before, frankly.

He then learned that the first time Lakira was assaulted she was 14. Her mom had just kicked her out of the house. The cop told her to wipe off her makeup and go home, that she didn't belong there.

Rafael was trying to figure out how to respond to that anecdote, given he had a feeling the witness might be pushed to flip and drop charges if not careful, when Rollins interrupted them, knocking on the door and enters.

"I Know you're busy Counsellor, but -" She gestured to the door.

He nodded. "I'll be right back, Lakira."

If he was hoping it was good news, he was proven wrong. Mohammed gave his lawyer his pass code for his phone and the app showed he was going to pick up Chloe at 10:48 pm and she never showed and he canceled five minutes later.

"Could he have canceled after she got it?"

"That's not how it works," Defence Counsel said. "My client booked another ride to Crown Heights then New Jersey."

Rafael pinched the bridge of his nose. "Confirm with HailMe, but release him. I still want the car processed however. I also want Chloe talked to again. Sans parents."

The blond detective nodded. "I'll go tell the captain. It might be a moment, though. She's on the phone with Dodds."

He snorted, starting to walk towards Liv's office. "I'll do it. Wouldn't be the first time I've pissed off the chief."

Rafael was rather pleased when he was able to make his escape. He seriously hoped that the detectives vetted the witnesses properly because he wanted to wipe the smug look of Andrews' face and didn't fancy putting an innocent man in jail either because of false identification.


	90. Chapter 90

Rafael managed to have most of Saturday afternoon free, and only had to pay a brief visit to work on Sunday afternoon.

"Por qué necesitas ir al trabajo también, Papi?" Noah asked as Rafael was saying goodbye to everyone. (Why do you need to go to work too, Papi?)

"Porque, desafortunadamente, varias personas resultaron heridas el viernes por la noche. Tu mamá y su equipo necesitan mi ayuda para detener a las personas que los lastimaron. Todos somos un equipo y, como tal, todos debemos trabajar juntos." He ruffled Noah's hair. "Entiendes, Noah?" (Because, unfortunately, several people were injured on Friday night. Your mom and her team need my help to stop the people who hurt them. We are all a team and, as such, we need to all work together. Do you understand, Noah?)

"Sí," Noah said after a moment. "Creo que sí." He hugged Rafael tightly. "Te quiero, Papi." (Yes. I think so. I love you, Papi)

"También te quiero, Mijo," Rafael said. "Ahora pórtate bien por tu abuela, y no comas demasiados dulces, hmmm." (I love you too, Mijo. Now be good for your grandmother, and don't eat too much candy, hmmm.)

Rafael's mother rolled her eyes at him. "Esa es la parte divertida de ser abuela. No me lo arruines." (That's the fun part of being a grandmother. Don't ruin it for me.)

Noah snickered and Rafael rolled his eyes before kissing his mother goodbye and making the drive back to Manhattan.

Tamin had managed to track down Davies and went with Carisi to talk to the guy, who ended up revealing more information to the detectives than the man may have liked, asking about his car that he claimed was stolen, and confirming he'd been in Chelsea at the time of Lakira's assault. From the conversation, Carisi suspected that it was not the man's first offence, and Rafael had to agree. Olivia sent Tamin to work the piers, which had paid off. Witnesses placed her with Davies and said that it was part of a pattern. When he couldn't get it up, he beat the workers and then he was good to go.

That helped the case, but Rafael was concerned that Lakira might flip, and told Olivia as much. Still, there wasn't much they could do to change the situation.

Olivia and Fin had gone to speak with Joelle and her sister Aleah. He wasn't sure how they had done it, but Joelle finally agreed to go against her ex. He was pleased because he didn't want to make a seven-year-old boy testify to his mother's abuse, but he would in a heartbeat. He was just glad he didn't have to.

While they'd been doing that, Rollins managed to find something for Chloe's case; the bar where Chloe had gone drinking had given Rollins video cam surveillance where Chloe was seen getting into a black car. It was not a HailMe. The license plate was also bent to avoid traffic cams.

Thankfully, that morning TARU had come through and found the car was registered to an owner in Queens. Carisi and Rollins immediately headed out there, hoping they'd actually be able to close the case.

Aadesh Patel, the car owner, had been genuinely confused about the accusations, but the detectives made an arrest when his son Sanjay made a run for it.

And that led to Rafael being called down for another interrogation that Sunday afternoon among other things. His mother, thankfully, was more than happy to look after the kids for the afternoon.

Sanjay Patel didn't even try to deny the accusations, The young man simply explained his dad borrowed a million dollars for his medallion - hoping to pass it on to him - but after Uber, everything he worked for was gone. Two of his father's friends committed suicide. He kept going on about how no one cared and he had to do something. He blamed the girl, saying Chloe didn't even check, she just got in. Pointing out that no one who uses the app does and he only did this to scare her and others from using them. He swore he didn't hurt her, which was a blatant lie. How the hell was raping someone not hurting them? The self-righteous idiot.

The case was mostly made now, confession and all, but he still wanted an official ID from Chloe to put the metaphorical nail in the coffin.

He was pleased to see that Rollins and his message of stop being stupid to the parents seemed to finally hit home and they didn't accompany their daughter for the ID.

He then had to fight with a judge over the arrest warrants they needed, which he'd been granted, allowing them to actually pick up Paul Davies.

"Seriously?" Davies' lawyer said. "That rude detective of yours already brought this person up."

"These are obviously false accusations," Davies added.

"Well," the captain said, "this victim was assaulted Friday night, and she IDed you."

Davies gave Olivia a pointed look. "She's clearly looking for a payday."

Fin smirked. "Oh, so you do know her?"

"Hold up," the lawyer said. "He didn't say that."

"Look, it's a freak show down there," Davies said. "I gawk. Now maybe I noticed her."

Rafael couldn't hold back the eye-roll.

"Mr. Davies was playing hockey," the defence attorney continued. "He parked in the area. His car was stolen."

"So when we do find your car, you're telling us that Lakira's DNA is not gonna be all over it?" Olivia deadpanned.

Defence Counsel was grasping at straws. "Maybe she stole the car."

"I didn't touch this person," Davies stated.

"How about her?" Fin said, placing a photo on the table. "Nikkita. She says you assaulted her a month ago."

"I think we're done here," Counsellor Turner said.

"Oh, we're just getting started, Ms. Turner," Olivia said. She placed another photo on the table. "Here's Angel. She says that she knows other girls that your client assaulted." The captain eyed the defence attorney. "He has a proclivity, a clear pattern."

The defence attorney gave a snort. "Or they colluded." A pause. "Did anybody file a complaint at the time." Everyone knew that, unfortunately, they hadn't. "Exactly." The defence attorney stood up. "My client is going home to see his family."

"Try again," Olivia said smugly. "Mr. Davies, you're under arrest for aggravated sexual abuse, assault, and patronizing a prostitute."

Now they just had to make sure that Lakira was willing to take the stand.

"Ready to go home?" Olivia asked once everything was wrapped up.

He had a mischievous glint in his eyes. "If we stop for coffee and time it right, my mother will have dinner made by the time we get there."

She chuckled. "You're horrible."

He quirked an eyebrow. "So I've been told."


	91. Chapter 91

Monday came, and it was down to the crunch. Olivia dropped Noah off at school, while Rafael ran to work. He had several meetings that morning, one being with McCoy, and the other, a defence attorney concerning one of his other cases, a domestic violence case, which, thankfully, didn't have to go to arraignment today along with the others. His day was already hectic enough. He was actually hoping to plead that particular case out, given the parents weren't the most cooperative. The teenager was actually the perpetrator in this instance, which was, unusual. Needless to say, the parents didn't want to 'ruin their son's life.'

He understood it, but the nineteen-year-old needed to face some consequences.

"Are you still concerned about Lakira flipping?"

"Honestly," he said, looking at Olivia. "Yes, but I'll cross that mess when we get there. Still, if Tamin could talk to her, reassure her... within the next two hours."

Olivia nodded. "She did earlier, but I'll have her pay a visit again."

"Much appreciated," he said. "God, I need another coffee." Unfortunately, Sofia had caught a bug, preventing them from getting much sleep the night before. The poor thing. Rafael figured he was more stressed out about it than Liv, actually, but then, she was used to all of the medical issues Noah had had. He sighed. "Davies still in holding?"

"Yes."

"Great, so Joelle is still on board?"

"When I talked to her earlier, yes," Olivia said.

"And Chloe's case?" he said. "Do you think she's solid?"

"Yes," Olivia said. "And we still have Sanjay's confession her ID."

"Okay, so as long as there are no surprises..." he said, moving his glasses back into place as they started to slip forward.

"Rafa, you've got this," she said. "I realize you're running on no sleep, but breathe. You've dealt with way weaker cases and came out on top."

He gestured upwards. "From your mouth to God's ears." He gave her a quick kiss. "Your squad is going to be the death of me."

She gave him a sideways smile. "You know you love us."

He chuckled. "True, although I sometimes wonder why." He glanced at the time and realized he had enough time to grab some coffee from Starbucks. "Coffee?"

She adjusted her own glasses. "Do you even need to ask?"

He laughed. "I'll take that as a yes."

She smirked. "Smart man."

He smiled, amused. "Te quiero también mi vida." (I love you too, my life.)

Leaving to go grab a coffee, and head to his office to finish prepping for arraignment, he left the 16th to their somewhat organized chaos.

"Your Honour," Rafael stated, "Mr. Patel has confessed. Furthermore, he was later IDed by the victim herself in a lineup."

Judge McNamara nodded. "How do you plead?"

"Not guilty, Your Honour. Although we are discussing a plea of forcible touching with the D.A."

"Not the time or place," the judge said. "People on bail?"

"60, 000."

He honestly wanted to ask for slightly more, but this judge, in particular, tended to not like setting high bails, so knew it wouldn't get him anywhere.'

Granting Rafael's motion, the judge simply said, "Next case." The man glanced at his notes. "People vs. Leon Fuller."

Rafael rolled his eyes, "That'd be me, Your Honour."

The judge gave a little snort. "So we both drew the short straw this weekend."

Rafael was about to respond when the Fin came up behind him getting his attention. "Counsellor."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sergeant Tutuola, this better be important." He was keeping a judge waiting. That was never good, and frankly, this particular judge hated it more than some others. He was really pushing his luck right now.

Fin rolled his eyes. "Let's just say I'm behind on paperwork."

"Meaning?"

"I talked to Leon," Fin explained. "He said he'll plead to the assault - if you drop the rape charge."

He frowned slightly. "Why?"

"It's best you don't ask," Fin replied simply.

Rafael sighed. When Fin said things like that it hardly ever meant something good for Rafael. Still, if it got the job done...

"Counsellor?" the judge said. "You -"

"I apologize, Your Honour," Rafael said. "I assure you it was critically important."

The judge nodded. "So on the charges of rape in the second and assault two, how do you plead?"

"Mr. Fuller is willing to plead guilty to the aforementioned assault charge, pending a motion to dismiss the rape."

"The People are open to the deal," Rafael said, "but given the violent nature of his assault, we do request bail be set at 70,000."

"Granted."

Rafael nodded, quickly rummaging through his documents.

"Next case. People vs. Paul Davies."

Rafael raised a hand, giving the judge a pointed look.

"You bowling for a turkey, Counsellor."

"It would certainly seem that way, Your Honour."

The judge nodded, looking toward the defendant. "How do you plead?"

"Actually, Your Honour," the defence attorney said, "at this time, defence is planning to file a motion to immediately dismiss all charges.

Rafael looked at defence counsel in disbelief. "On what grounds?"

"I have here a sworn affidavit from the complaining witness, Lakira Baca," the defence attorney explained, "asserting she fabricated the accusation and is withdrawing her complaint."

"This this is the first that I'm hearing about this, Your Honour." His blood was boiling. This was exactly the mess he'd tried to prevent. Still, he fought to keep a neutral expression on his face.

The judge looked at him. "The defendant is released - R.O.R - pending the motion to dismiss."

He nodded, not really expecting anything else.

Court will adjourn for a ten-minute recess," the judge said, dismissing them all.

He got to the courtroom and looked at Officer Tamin.

"Did I not tell you to make sure she was solid?"

Tamin glared. "She gave me every impression that she was cooperating, Barba."

He snorted. "While you were looking after her case, she was looking after herself." He looked at her. "I thought you said you have a rapport with her."

"I do," the brunette officer said. "I did."

"Then figure out what the hell happened here," he scoffed, "because she either got scared or paid off. Frankly, my money's on the latter." With that he walked away, knowing he was in for another lovely conversation with McCoy as to why Rafael had no idea what was going on with his own plaintiff.


	92. Chapter 92

Tuesday morning was one hearing after another. Most of them being motion hearings for the three felony sexual assaults he'd just got.

Thankfully, Leon Fuller was keeping to the terms of his deal, and after that morning's hearing, the case was officially closed, the conviction a done deal.

One of the hearings ran a bit later than intended so he had a later lunch, grabbing a sandwich from a shop down the street before heading back to work to deal with all the reports and case preparation that he had waiting for him.

That was interrupted, not for the first time, by Rita Calhoun stopping by to propose a deal for one of his smaller cases. She generally just showed up whenever she wanted, and half the time the deals were less than satisfactory in Rafael's book. This time, it actually wasn't a bad deal, so he took it. One more case dealt with.

He audibly groaned, however, when Evan Braun barged in, being his usual difficult self. He'd heard Braun out, mostly, but still showed him the door as soon as possible.

He then grabbed a coffee, answered a few emails, and dove pack into managing the stack of files on his desk.

The day much calmer than the previous few, Olivia was able to get out and take Noah to Dance, while Rafael tried to get as much work done as possible, so they might both actually be home at a decent time. He did honestly feel slightly bad about working so much the previous weekend and knew Olivia did too.

The plan to get home at a reasonable hour was sorely tested when the 16th's SVU caught another case, requesting he go down to the Child Advocacy Center to observe a victim's interview.

As he walked in, Liv spotted him and caught up with him.

"Fill me in?" he said, gesturing for her to walk and talk.

"Lupe Perez, 14, was assaulted in a stairwell on her way home. From the projects." He nodded. "Her mother, Viviana, was at work at the time. When Kat arrived on the scene, she was home alone with her little sister. Kat ended up riding with her to CAC."

"Ok. Where does the mother work?"

"Nightshift at the Double Dutch Donuts on 125th," Olivia explained.

"Are there any witnesses?"

She shook her head, leading him around a corner. "Fin is still canvassing and there is nothing on the rape kit," she explained. "No semen or hairs."

"So, likely not this guy's first time."

"Unfortunately," Olivia said, stopping in front of the room they wanted, Carisi standing there as well.

"We need to talk after, Carisi said to Olivia.

She nodded. "Alright."

Rafael glanced inside. "You're letting Tamin take the lead?"

Olivia shrugged. "We're giving her a shot. She was first on the scene, she rode with her, and she took the disclosure." She glanced between him and Tamin. "And I'm right here if she needs me."

"Kat doesn't miss a trick," Carisi commented. "Somebody must've stolen her lunch money once."

"Or tried to," Olivia quipped.

Rafael snorted. "A given when you're growing up in the projects."

"How did you know?" Carisi asked. "We didn't even learn that until today."

He raised an eyebrow. "Consider it an educated guess. I'm more than a little familiar with the type."

They turned their attention to the interview.

"I tried to scratch him for DNA, but he choked me with my headphone cord."

"Did you see his hands? Big, white maybe." The teen seemingly considered her answer for a moment. "Or Hispanic." Well, he wouldn't be surprised given the neighbourhood, but he hoped she'd remember something else about the perp. "They smelled bad," Lupe added as an afterthought.

"What kind of smells?" Tamin asked.

"Like a woody smell."

"Good," the officer said, "like, like a park?"

"No," the teen replied. "Pencil sharpener smell."

The officer nodded. "Good, Lupe. Did you hear his voice?"

The teen nodded. "He said, 'Okay, Chiquita, do it nice for Papi.'" She looked perilously close to tears. "My real papi died."

"I'm so sorry, Lupe." The compassion on Tamin's face was palpable. Glancing at Olivia he certainly had to agree with their earlier assessments. She was new, but she could actually become an incredible asset with a little time. The potential was definitely there. The main issue was how green she was to SVU. Tamin was used to a rather different line of work. "You were saying that he -"

"He said if I didn't... You know... he would go upstairs to my little sister Gizelle."

Olivia glanced at him. "So, the rapist knew Lupe; they knew her family. It's why he didn't let her get a look at him."

"Well, it's a start."

He turned his attention back to the interview.

"He pulled down my pants," Lupe continued to explain, a note of anxiety in her voice. "Please, I don't want anyone to know that."

"Hey," Tamin said, trying to assure the girl, "you don't have to worry about that. Okay?"

Rollins entered the room they were in, looking directly at Olivia. "Lupe's mom is here."

The captain nodded. "Let's get this over with."

"I'll stay and observe," he said. "I'm already here."

"Saving the trees," Olivia quipped, causing Rafael to snort.

Hopefully, the mother would have some useful information for them.

"I was working, um... My husband died two years ago, that 9/11 cancer, so I work extra... If I had been there -"

"You were working for your family," Olivia said. "Listen to me, this is not your fault."

"Ms. Perez," Rollins said softly, "we think whoever did this to Lupe knew her. So, can you think of anyone a neighbour, a teacher that maybe pays too much attention?"

"No, um, Lupe's always in the library or at the school lab or babysitting her little sister. Please, I need to see Lupe."

Olivia nodded. "Of course."

A couple of minutes later, he was alone with Olivia. "I've should get going, but call me if you guys get anything from the canvass or CSU."

"Will do," she said.

"How did dance go?"

"Good," she said, "but we need to talk about something later?"

"What?"

"My brother."

"He's in town?"

"Yes," she said. "And he wants to meet Noah."

He frowned. "He's an unreliable drug addict." He winced. "Sorry. I know he's your brother..."

"You're not exactly wrong, but he says he's sober," Olivia said. "And he did seem alright when we were talking. I wouldn't have even brought the suggestion up if I got the impression he was still using."

He nodded. "Ok then. We'll talk later, but I'll support whatever you decide, Cariño. know things are rather rocky between you and Simon, but he _is_ family. Your call."

In so many words, Rafael that Simon Marsden had a knack for messing things up for Liv, with very little concern for the consequences to Olivia's life.

She sighed. "I just don't want this to hurt Noah."

He squeezed her hand. "We'll figure it out."


	93. Chapter 93

Managing to get home not too late, they spent some time playing with the kids before having dinner and going over Noah's school work with him to make sure that he was good to go for the next day. Not that Noah had much homework given his age, but they still wanted to know what was going on and be as involved as they could be given how crazy their work schedules were.

When the kids were both sleeping, at least for the time being, they both sat in front of the TV and talked about what was going on with Olivia's brother and the lunch that had been proposed. Olivia had agreed to meet for lunch the following day, at a café of her choice, and ended up asking Rafael to come as well. Not that she was worried about Simon doing anything. He wasn't a threat, at all. However, having some backup if Simon pulled one of his usual stunts just made her feel better. Plus, Simon had seemed a bit hurt that he didn't know about Olivia's family.

The next day they got right back into work, and between managing his files he was in meeting after meeting and hoping that SVU would actually find something that would let them move forward with Lupe's case.

So far, there had been nothing. No leads on the canvass, and all the registered sex offenders near Lupe's home were cleared.

All they really had was Lupe's description of a man with calloused hands who smelled like wood shavings. At least that was something, as it narrowed it down to a projects worker. Fin immediately requested a list of the maintenance guys from the Jacob Lawrence Houses, which would give them a list of people to exclude, given their perp would likely be on that list. Hopefully, otherwise, they were right back to nothing.

They'd also gotten the DNA from Lupe's headphones back, which was a match to a double homicide in the Wave View projects in Far Rockaway from 2003. That was a prime example for why the backlog needed to be dealt with, as they had a closed rape and double-murder from sixteen years ago and never tested the kit until it just happened to be pushed through - years later - and tested recently due to efforts to diminish the aforementioned backlog.

"It was a match to the DNA found under the fingernails of which victim?" Rafael asked.

"Both," Rollins said. "Nydia Hernandez, strangled with an electric cord and her daughter, Jacinta. She was sexually assaulted and then strangled."

"Two teenagers confessed," Tamin explained. "Ricardo Torres, fifteen at the time. He turned state's on Carlos Hernandez, eighteen, the son and brother of the vics."

"And which of their DNA matches Lupe's?"

"That's the thing," Rollins said. "Neither."

Rafael eyed the detective. "What does that mean?"

"That we're looking at a third accomplice," Fin stated. "Someone who was never caught."

"Okay, so we're gonna need to talk with Ricardo and Carlos," Olivia said. "Where are they now?"

"Hernandez is still serving twenty-five to life in Green Haven," Tamin explained.

Rafael raised an eyebrow. "Twenty-five to life and he never gave up the third guy?"

Fin gave a pointed look. "That guy ain't ever gonna talk."

The captain looked at him, and then to Fin. "So take the counsellor with you. If he sees a D.A, maybe he'll think that he can cut a deal."

He looked at Rollins and Tamin. "Is Ricardo still incarcerated as well?"

"No," Tamin said. "Finished his fifteen a year ago."

"Last known," Rollins said, looking at a piece of paper, "Wave View Houses in Far Rock." She glanced back up. "Parole officer's on vacay. Can you use that as leverage?"

He snorted. "I'll find a way."

"Naturally," Olivia deadpanned. "Fin and Carisi, lean on him. Hard." She looked at Kat and Rollins. "Go to their old neighbourhood and canvass. It's a long shot, but someone knows something we can use."

Rollins nodded, moving to grab her coat. "We'll head there right now."

Rafael shook his head. "Just to be clear, we've got a guy doing life for murdering his mother and his sister and there was someone else's DNA on the victim?"

"Why check DNA?" Fin scoffed. "They had confessions."

"Yeah, and it's the projects," Tamin added. "They were murdered at a bad address."

He was throwing his jacket on when he phone went off. It was Jack McCoy, which wasn't always a good thing for him. He glanced at Fin. "I'll meet you both there. I've got to take this."

The sergeant and detective nodded, finishing gathering their things themselves so that they could leave and get the interview over with.

Surprisingly, that phone call with the D.A ended up being one of the better conversations they'd had over the years. As good a man as McCoy could he, he was also a very interesting and complicated person to have your boss.

Still, Rafael wasn't about to complain. They could have worse, way worse, and Jack, at the end of the day, always tried to to the right thing, even if mistakes were made.

The interrogation really didn't seem to be going anywhere fast, and was honestly just going in circles at this point. The detectives talked, Hernandez said nothing, and Rafael just watched, bored, as the whole thing repeated.

"I'm gonna ask you again, Carlos," Fin said, "'cause we know there was a third person who helped kill your mama and your kid sis."

A look of confusion crossed Hernandez's face. It was seemed almost genuine, and Rafael didn't know what to make of that observation. "What you mean, you know?"

Carisi didn't miss a beat. "We found DNA of a third man."

"You did? So you know you know who did it. You arrest him?"

"If we knew who did it, we wouldn't be asking."

"Man, I don't know who killed them. All I know is that Ricky and me didn't do it, I swear. I could never hurt my mommy or little Jacinta. That night, Ricky and me, we was just hanging."

"Really? That's not what he said. This is his handwritten confession. Says that the whole thing was your idea - and he just went along."

"Ricky was just a kid. Detective Monte convinced him if he turned state's on me, he'd get man two and out in fifteen."

Fin gave the prisoner a pointed look. "Then why'd you fess up?"

"Because Monte and the D.A told me if I didn't confess, that I'd get the sayonara syringe. Man, I was 18. I didn't have no mommy no more to help me."

"Look, Carlos, I don't know what went down then, but if you work with us now, you give up your accomplice, when you come up for parole, I will go to the board."

"Why do you keep saying accomplice, man? I told you I wasn't even there."

"Come on, man!" Fin said. "Everybody in here says they're innocent. It's been sixteen years. That's almost half your life. Why are you covering for this guy?"

"I swear to God," the man said. Again, it came across so genuinely that Rafael didn't know what to make of it. "I came home, and I saw them lying there like that. It's all I've ever thought about since."

Fin looked at Carisi, moving to stand up. "This is a waste of time."

Rafael couldn't help but agree. They were really getting nothing from this, except for denial and more denial.

"Hold on," Carisi said, raising his index finger in a clear gesture. _Wait. "_Carlos, you said that that you and Ricky were, uh, you were hanging. Where?"

The man looked over to the nearby guard. "That I can't say."

Fin looked at Carisi. "I told you this was a waste of time."

"Look, I'm not lying, okay?" Hernandez pushed a piece of paper toward Carisi and Fin to read. "After he was released, Ricky sent me this. He apologized for putting me away. He said he was just saving himself and back then in Far Rock, we weren't angels, all right. But, my mommy? She was all I had."

"Okay," Fin said. "You got an alibi for that night?" He stood up, getting ready to leave. "Or this goes nowhere."

Hernandez motioned to the guard to take him out and left. Carisi continued over the paper that the prisoner had gave him.

Rafael looked at the detectives. "Well, this should be a slice."

Fin snorted. "That's one way of putting it."

Carisi looked at Rafael. "I feel like Carlos was telling the truth."

He sighed. "Honestly, Detective, so do I."

Rafael had a hard time focusing on the road as he drove back to the 1-6 to go over where the case now stood. If the man was innocent, he'd had his entire life ripped away from him because some lazy ass wouldn't test the DNA that had been readily available. He tried to shake that train of thought away, and focus more fully on the road. Hopefully, Tamin and Rollins got something from the new canvass.

Walking into the squad room, he immediately went for the pot of coffee. "Fresh?"

"Chief was just here," Olivia said with a snort. "He's working on being just as bad as you are."

He smirked. "If he needs any food coffee shop recommendations." She rolled her eyes, as he took a sip. "Rollins, please tell me you have something."

Rollins shook her head. "Sorry. We talked to Savannah Baker. She goes by 'Moms.' W were looking for Ricardo. She just said he paid his debt and that Carlos would not hurt his family. He was a mama's boy."

Tamin chimed in. "She also said that if Ricky threw himself on the floor he would miss."

"That," Rollins said, "and she mentioned they were railroaded and claimed Detective Monte and the prosecutor had the wrong boys but just didn't care. Apparently Ricky came back there but got AIDS in prison. He lied to save his own skin."

"Did you get a chance to talk to him?" Olivia asked.

"No, Kat said sadly. "He passed last week and actually asked Moms to scatter his ashes out where he and Carlos skipped stones. She suggested we talk to the original detective who caught the case."

"Damn it," he said with a sigh. "So, he can't even testify to the possible coercion and Hernandez simply won't. And without the alibi, the recant and apology letter means very little in court." He read the letter out loud, to mixed reactions from all the detectives listening.

Olivia sighed. "Ok. Kat, Carisi, Go talk to him."

Carisi and Tamin nodded, heading out of the squad room.

Once they were alone, Olivia turned to him. "Regretting not applying for the judgeship yet?"

His eyes went wide. "When did you-?"

She chuckled. "Saw the papers, but I figured the choice was yours."

He shook his head. "I'll apply for next term, but for now I feel like this is where I can do the most good. I know I should've discussed it with you, but I just felt like with Sofia and everything it was just a bad time to up and change everything."

"It's fine," she said, giving him a peck on the cheek, "but come on, we've got a little boy to pick up and a lunch to go to."

He smiled, hooking his arm in hers. "Lead the way, m'lady."


	94. Chapter 94

They were sitting in Café Du Soleil and had been for over ten minutes when Noah spoke up, looking directly at Olivia. "When's your friend going to get here?"

"I don't know, honey," Olivia said with a sigh. So far his brother-in-law was being his usual self, disappointing Liv, and proving he was unreliable. A no-show. At least they'd both agreed not to tell Noah who Simon was before the pair actually got to know each other. It was better for Noah that way, they both felt.

"I don't wanna be late for art class," Noah said, whining slightly. "I don't want to miss our project. I've been looking forward to it all week."

"Okay, sweetie. I'm sorry," she said, obviously torn about what to do.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Why don't we get you a refill and let your mom call her friend?"

Noah nodded. "Ok, Papi."

Olivia ruffled their son's hair. "I'll go find out what's keeping him."

He nodded, squeezing Liv's hand as she walked by. While she was on the phone, he asked the waitress over. "Hi, excuse me."

"Oh, did you want to go ahead and order?"

"Actually, we're still waiting for somebody," he explained, "but I think my son would like a refill. As would I."

The waitress nodded. "I can do that."

He gave the waitress a polite smile. "You haven't seen a man with dark hair and light eyes inside by any chance? He'd be here under our reservation." It was a long-shot but he felt it worth asking.

"No, sir," the waitress said, "but I'll check again."

"Thank you," he said.

The waitress nodded. "I'll be back in a minute with your refills."

It wasn't long before Olivia was back, looking noticeably upset. "You ok, Cariño?"

"Fine," she said tersely. "I'll fill you in later. Let's just order." She turned to Noah, smiling. "Have you decided what you want?"

"Uh-huh," the young boy said with a nod. "I want this, please." He pointed to the item on the menu that he selected. The Croque Monsieur with fries.

"Good choice," Olivia said, taking a sip of her drink. They chatted slightly, and, much to Rafael's relief, she relaxed quite a bit by the time the waitress arrived with their refills, smiling more fully. He didn't want Simon to ruin her day because he was being himself yet again.

After they finished lunch, Rafael kissed them both goodbye before running to a meeting he had scheduled, leaving Olivia to drop Noah back off at school before she returned to her precinct.

The meeting with Buchanan really hadn't done anything but irritate him so he was a little bit testy when he threw himself into his files.

Most of it had abated by the time he heard a knock on his door, but not all of it. Irritated, he didn't bother to look up. "Come in."

His mother walked in, clearly not missing the tone in her son's voice. She had a small package with her as well. "Well, hello to you too, Mijo. Is now a bad time?

He rolled his eyes. "Hola, Mami." He closed the file that was in front of him. "And no, now's fine. Por qué? What's up?"

"Nothing," she said. "Simplemente estaba en el área, ya que tenía una reunión sobre el recaudador de fondos de la que te hablé. Pensé en pasar por aquí y verte antes de volver a la escuela." (I was just in the area since I had a meeting about the fundraiser I told you about. I thought I'd stop by and see you before heading back to the school.)

He nodded, giving her a small smile. "Cómo le fue?" (How'd it go?)

"Estuvo bien," his mother assured him. "El evento ha sido aprobado y algunos voluntarios también se han presentado." (It was fine. The event has been approved and some volunteers have come forward as well.)

He smiled more warmly now. "Perfecto." (Perfect.)

"También quería dejarte esto," she said, passing him the container she had with her, "ya que tengo muchas sobras de anoche." (I also wanted to drop this off for you, as I have so much leftovers from last night.)

He opened the container, more than pleased at what was inside. "Gracias, Mami. Ha pasado un tiempo desde que tuve estos. Probablemente los lleve al recinto y los comparta con el equipo." (Thanks, Mami. It's been a while since I've had these. I'll probably actually take them to the precinct and share them with the squad.)

His mother chuckled. "Entonces, debe guardarlos en algún lugar antes de comerlos todos y no queda nada para compartir." (Then you should put those away somewhere before you eat them all and there's nothing left to share.)

He raised an eyebrow. "No soy tan malo." (I'm not that bad.)

She mimicked his gesture, highlighting the familial resemblance between them. "Bien, solo sigue diciéndote eso, Mijo." (Well, just keep telling yourself that, Mijo.)

He rolled his eyes, taking out one of the pastries and taking a bite.

It wasn't even an hour after his mother left before he was called down to the 16th precinct yet again.

"Pastelitos de Guayaba," Tamin said, her English accent surprisingly light, immediately recognizing the dessert. She was Lebanese-American but had grown up in a predominately Latino, read largely Puerto Rican, neighbourhood - although that had changed in recent years - so was familiar with some of the more common things and spoke passable Spanish that she learned from her neighbours.

"Yes," he said with a small nod.

"I'll make an exception," the officer said, cheekily taking one. She took a bite. "If you like these, Counsellor, you might try Baklava. Those are a really good pastry as well if you like nuts. They are crispy, sweet, and delicious as my teta says."

He shrugged. "Never had the occasion, but wouldn't mind a good recommendation."

"What are these?" Rollins asked curiously.

"Guava pastries," he explained.

"These look like they have cream cheese," Carisi said, grabbing one from the container, never one to turn down snacks.

"Good guess, Staten Island," he quipped. "You're right."

Rollins looked at the treats for a moment before finally taking one. "Cream cheese. Well, I'm in."

"These are really good," Carisi said happily after taking a bite, "but I'm still sticking by my Cannolis. Sono la perfezione."

He gave a snort. "Says the man who likes that stale sandwich shop."

Carisi rolled his eyes. "One damn time."

"So," Olivia said, amused, "aside from the delicious baked goods, did we get anything out there?"

He snorted. "I'd like to know as well."

"Pretty much what we suspected," Rollins said. "Detective Monte wasn't interested in any other suspects and you know Carisi thinks both confessions were coerced."

"So," Olivia said, "we're not looking for the third guy in, we're looking for the only guy."

Fin made a vague gesture. "The one that got away with it."

"You know," Rollins said, "I thought he was just trying to justify what he did, but Monte Monte did say that there'd been other rapes in the projects around the same time."

"If we look into those," Tamin said, "we might actually find out who this guy is. I honestly think we could be looking at a serial who's been out there for sixteen years."

"Terrific," Rafael said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Okay," Olivia said after a moment, "let's go back to unsolved project rapes, check M.O.s. Kat, you got the records of maintenance workers at Lupe's projects, Right?"

"Yep."

"So," the captain said, "cross-check them and see if anybody who worked there also worked at Wave View sixteen years ago."

All going their separate ways, Rafael went back to the D'A's Office to another meeting about a plea deal and tried to reply to some work calls and emails done before he had to go to a pretrial motion hearing.

When he got called later to go down to the precinct, he had to say no given how much work he had and had needed to ask Olivia to come to him this time if it was just going to be a shorter meeting. Thankfully, she'd been more than agreeable.

"So we found twelve housing project rapes," Olivia explained, "but these two most closely fit the pattern. Maria Negron, 13. Angela Lopez, 12. Both lived at the Jersey Street projects. One happened in 2010, the other in 2011."

"Any DNA on either?"

"No," she admitted, "they were both assaulted from behind, strangled with a cord, and neither one of them saw his face. That's his M.O."

"Where are we on suspects?"

"So there were eighteen maintenance workers that worked at all three of these projects that fit the timeline. Seven are black, two are deceased, one is disabled. So we're gonna need DNA warrants on these eight guys."

"So we've got nothing."

Rollins spoke up. "Counsellor -"

Rafael glanced between the captain and detective. "This all," he gave a vague gesture, "amounts to nothing." He moved to the other side of his desk. "No judge is going to sign off on this. You've got to give me something more substantial."

She sighed. "All right, so we can ask them to volunteer for exclusion," she said. "If they're innocent, then they shouldn't have a problem with that."

He nodded. "Alright, get me probable cause on at least one of them and I'll get you your warrants."

"You're leaving us again?" Rollins asked.

"No," he said, making his way over to the office door. "I have a meeting with Calhoun regarding the Williams case," he said in way of explanation. "Wesley hasn't been the greatest witness as you well know."

The detective nodded. "Good luck."

He rolled his eyes. "Sentiment appreciated." And with that, he opened the door. "Carmen, can you cancel my 4:30 please."

The assistant walked over. "Of course. Can I ask why?"

"I have a feeling the meeting with Calhoun is going to run over and with the other cases going on, I just can't guarantee I'll make it. Move it to first thing tomorrow morning before the hearing."

She nodded. "Consider it done." As the assistant walked away again, she turned. "A new pot of coffee was just made, by the way."

Olivia laughed. "She spoils you, Rafa. I hope you know that."

He smirked. "There's a reason I keep her around."

Carmen snorted. "I'll keep that in mind, and between you and me, I definitely wouldn't say no to a Christmas bonus."

He laughed. "You know I will, and actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else."

"Oh?"

He went and rummaged through a drawer and pulled out the set of papers he was looking for, passing them to her. "I need your signature on these." He smirked at the look that appeared on her face. "Unless you don't want it."

Carmen rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm signing these." She quickly scribbled her signature, making her raise official, before passing them back to him. "Thank you."

He waved the apology off. "You go above and beyond, and damn well know it. On that note, you mentioned there was coffee." With that, he walked out, leaving the detectives to make the trip out to Lexington Avenue once again.


	95. Chapter 95

"Captain," he said with a smile as he finally made it down to the 1-6. He'd been asked to come down right after court quickly while jury deliberations were going on because of updates in the Lupe Perez case.

He'd been in court all day regarding a twenty-two year old man who had assaulted a fourteen year old girl some time back. The man was facing charges for both sexual assault and sexual interference of a person under sixteen.

The man pleaded not guilty on both counts, naturally, but that wasn't unusual. The teen had appeared in court by video link from within the courthouse with a support worker and had really held her own as she testified and underwent cross-examination. There had been one or two hiccups, as there always was, but nothing overly damaging and he was confident the jury was going to go his way.

Olivia smiled back at him as he took off his black overcoat. He was dressed in a pink and sky blue stripped shirt, a midnight blue tie with pink stars all over, with plain navy blue pants and matching suit jacket. "Good afternoon, Counsellor."

"I'm on a bit of a time crunch, so please explain to me how exactly we got a DNA match on Tim Stanton?"

Olivia gestured towards Carisi. "Carisi here found a glove on scene. The lab confirmed that his DNA matches the touch DNA on Lupe's headphones."

"And the DNA found under the nails of Jacinta and Nydia," Tamin chimed in. "We've got this guy."

"Hopefully," Carisi said. "This guy clearly has no remorse."

"I still want to see Lupe make a positive ID," Olivia explained, "so I had Rollins tell Stanton we've collared a sex offender that we know is good for this and we just needed help with the lineup."

He raised an eyebrow. "And he fell for that?"

"He pretended to want to help earlier," Rollins said. "So, the captain figured it was worth a shot. I mean we didn't really have anything to lose."

"He let Hernandez and Torres take the fall before," Olivia said, "so I'm not surprised he thinks we've just screwed up again."

Rafael snorted. "He's not the brightest then."

She gave him an amused look. "Makes our job marginally easier."

"And how did it go with the other seven men?" he inquired.

"Nothing," Tamin said with a sigh.

Fin snorted. "Less than nothing."

He nodded. "Alright then. Let's hope we get this ID and can nail the bastard."

He'd taken cases to court with less, as DNA tended to be a trump all card in court, but a positive ID would seal the deal.

Ten minutes later they were with Lupe and her mother.

"Take your time," Tamin said gently.

Lupe looked at the officer. "I didn't really see his face."

"But you heard his voice, right?" Tamin asked.

"Yes," Lupe confirmed.

"Would you be okay hearing something that he said to you again?" Rollins asked, hoping they could at least get a voice ID.

Lupe glanced at her mother before nodding. "Mm-hmm."

Benson tapped on the glass. "Okay, number one."

The first man read from the paper that all the men in the lineup were given by Fin prior to this. "Okay, chiquita, do it nice for Papi."

"Mm-mm," was Lupe's only response.

"Number two," Fin said.

The man balked. "I'm not comfortable saying this."

Lupe's demenour changed immediately when Stanton spoke. "It's him."

Fin was clearly irritated. "Just read the words."

"Do I have to say this?"

"It's him."

"Okay, chiquita, do it nice for Papi," Stanton said, unwilling to fight much more with the sergeant, given it was a losing battle.

"It's him, it's him, it's him." The teen grabbed onto her mother with every bit of strength she had. "It's him. It's him."

"It's okay," Mrs. Perez murmured, trying to comfort the girl . "It's okay."

With Tim Stanton in interrogation with Fin and Rollins, he admitted to doing work for the Perez family and says he 'moved the kid's headphones out of the way.' Fin mentioned the sixteen year old attack in Far Rockaway, and the man said that the son and his buddy confessed, adding that it's 'double jeopardy or something.' He claimed even if his DNA was there, he probably worked on that apartment too.

"Well, we knew he wasn't going down without a fight," Rafael deadpanned.

Olivia rolled her eyes, before they both turned their attention back to to interrogation.

Fin mentioned the blood and skin under the victim's fingernails, and Stanton decided it was time for him to shut down and lawyer up.

"It'll be hard to pin a double murder on him with someone still in prison for it."

"Arrest and hold him on Lupe's ID," Rafael said without preamble. "And send Carisi to go and see Hernandez when he and Tamin are back from dealing with the Eastwoods." They'd caught a domestic that morning that hadn't been handled well by the cops who responded to the call at all. They hadn't even separated the couple when taking their statements. "It's a long shot, but Hernandez might be able to ID this dirtbag."

She nodded, watching him throw his overcoat on and leave.

He'd then got a call from Carisi confirming the ID. Stanton had worked on their home. They'd waited a year for Stanton to come by to fix the kitchen cabinet and deal with a mice problem. Stanton had showed an interest in Jacinta as well, asking her to teach him her Shakira dance moves.

There'd been no sign of forced entry, likely because Jacinta had let him in as when maintenance came around it might be your only chance to get repairs done before not seeing them again for six months.

The mother likely came home during the rape, being killed along with her daughter so that neither of them could talk.

They had the letter, the IDs, and Stanton's DNA. Now he had to figure out how to get the Queens D.A who built his career off this to overturn the case.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Hernandez had a horrible lawyer. This mess should never have happened.

Several hours later, he was notified the jury was being sent home for dinner and would continue deliberations the following day.

Glancing at the time, he made a call to Queens County to set up a meeting for the following day before making the drive home, hoping he'd manage to get this mess dealt with the following day.

He walked into the house, a Benny Moré song finishing, and dinner being made. The house smelled very clearly of spaghetti, making him feel quite hungry.

Sofia was in her jumper, more than content enough, and Noah was in the middle of the room goofing off. He laughed as Noah started dancing around - to the Celia Cruz song that just started playing - with laudable enthusiasm. "Creo que mi trabajo aquí está hecho." (I think my job here is done.)

Noah turned the music up louder, causing Olivia to come out, rolling her eyes. Sofia seemed to like it as well as she tried to clap along to it. Although the last few months had flown by, Sofia at five and a half months was finally sleeping through the night easily. She'd also started really babbling which was beyond endearing. Olivia's quip amused him. "It's official. You people have corrupted them both."

He smirked. "Unashamedly. Get 'em young."

She chuckled. "Why do I love you?"

"Because Papi's awesome," Noah stated, not stopping the silly dancing that him and Rafael were currently engaging in.

"What he said," Rafael quipped without missing a beat.

After a moment a bolero started to play. He smirked again, and pulled Olivia in for a dance, causing her to roll her eyes as she started dancing around, a huge smile plastered on her face.

As the song came to an end she looked at him. "Dinner's probably toast."

He looked at her, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "That's what take out is for."

She laughed, going to turn off the stove and throw the extremely overcooked food in the trash and Rafael's heart fluttered hearing at and looking around at his little family.

As she walked back out of the kitchen she looked at him, noticing the slightly pensive look on his face. "What are you thinking?"

He smiled, pulling her in for a kiss. "Just thinking about how much I love you."

She gave him another quick kiss. "I love you too, you crazy man."


	96. Chapter 96

After a, thankfully short, plea hearing regarding the domestic they'd caught, Rafael stuck around the office waiting for the verdict regarding his other case. He'd had to cancel his meeting in Queens given he was still waiting but was hoping he'd get a verdict sooner rather than later.

He'd got his wish as by ten o'clock the jury popped in to say that they had reached a verdict. Guilty on all counts. He'd known, of course, the second that the found the man guilty of the sexual assault charge that the following charge of interference was going to be a 'guilty.' It was a given at that point.

Rafael'd requested the maximum. Not that that was enough in Rafael's opinion, but it was what it was.

After court, he'd quickly gotten on the phone, stopped by his office, and started to make the drive to Queens.

Walking into the Queens District Attorney's Office he was met by two of the senior ADAs. Scott Turow and Isaiah Holmes.

Scott and Rafael had gone to Harvard together, although Scott had been a year ahead of Rafael. They'd crossed paths again occasionally over the years when he worked for Kings County and had cases that crossed jurisdictions, which is also how he came to know ADA Holmes as well.

"So, how's Keane been?" Rafael asked.

"What do you mean?" Scott asked. Rafael raised an eyebrow. Scott sighed. "I guess the rumours made their way to you?" Rafael nodded and got another sigh in response. "Good days and bad days. More bad days than good, however."

"And he's still in office?"

Scott shrugged.

"It is what it is," Holmes drawled. "Welcome to Queens."

Rafael nodded, allowing himself to be lead to the Queens D.A's personal office.

"Mr. Keane, this is Manhattan Executive ADA Barba."

The Queens D.A looked at him. "Nice to meet you, sir."

"You, too, Mr. Keane." Rafael sighed. They'd met before and today clearly wasn't one of the man's better days. "Sir, I don't know if you've had a chance to look over the -"

"What case are you here about?"

"The double homicide of Nydia and Jacinta Hernandez in Far Rockaway," Rafael explained.

"You know why it's called Far Rockaway?"

"No, sir, actually, I don't."

"Because it's way far out."

Rafael nodded and glanced at the Queens ADAs. "Can we have a moment alone?"

Scott shrugged. "Sure. Come on, Isaiah."

When they were alone he turned to the rather out of it District Attorney. "Do you remember Carlos Hernandez, Mr. Keane?"

The man smiled. "Hernandez, what a good first baseman." The man gestured vaguely. "You know the Mets couldn't have won anything in '86 without him."

"I believe that was Keith, sir."

"Hmm."

"I have some paperwork here I need you to sign in regards to the Carlos Hernandez case I mentioned earlier."

"Put it over there on the table," the D.A said, gesturing to a large stack of files that the office was clearly behind on. "I'm very, very busy. I'll do my best to get it done soon." Another vague gesture. "I want to impress upon you not to leave law school. It can be a rewarding career."

"Okay, sir." Rafael got an idea and winced internally. He definitely had a knack for getting himself in potential trouble. "I agree it seems very rewarding. Can you please sign this letter of recommendation for my law school application?" He paused, giving pleading eyes. "I know you're exceptionally busy, but it's rather time-sensitive."

The man smiled. "Of course. Just pass it here."

Once the papers to overturn to conviction were signed, Rafael nearly ran from the room deliberately not considering the ethical implications of what he just did.

Scott raised an eyebrow. "Do I want to know?"

He snorted. "Keane signed the vacate order. We had a very frank discussion after you left us."

"Oh, I'm sure you did," Scott deadpanned, before raising an eyebrow. "We never left you alone in that room. Agreed?"

He nodded. "Agreed."

"You couldn't just get him protective custody while he was awaiting trial?" Holmes asked curiously.

"Protective custody with his history?" Rafael said. "PTSD, depression. He could suicide." He made a vague gesture. "Now let's go do this before the ink dries."

"Or any of his deputies find out about this," Isaiah added.

"Or that," Rafael agreed._ Neither of those two will rat me out, but the others... Keane can't even undo his tie, never mind a sixteen-year-old double homicide. It won't be hard for someone to realize he didn't know what he was signing._

The drive back to Manhattan, Rafael had a hard time focusing. He felt horrible for manipulating the situation and he knew the trouble he'd get into if caught. He couldn't just let an innocent man rot in prison either though.

When he arrived at the 1-6, Stanton's lawyer was there waiting for him, no doubt wanting to cut a deal given the evidence.

"Fine, let's talk," Rafael said, walking down the hallway and into interrogation one.

He sat down and looked at the legal aid attorney. "So?"

"My client will agree to forcible touching on the girl from Jacob Lawrence Houses."

Rafael gave her a look of disgust. "He raped a teenage girl."

"Says who?" the legal attorney said. "She didn't see her attacker and DNA on headphones? Probative of nothing."

"We have a voice ID and your client's DNA was found at three different rape scenes," Rafael said. "A jury will love that."

"Mm-hm. No eyewitnesses, only an ear witness." The legal aid attorney had such a smug look on his face. Rafael wanted to wipe it off. "I'll convince the jury that little Lupe is deaf and blind."

"Little Lupe is tougher than you think," Olivia sneered. "And we have three other projects-strong girls, just like Lupe, who will follow her to the stand."

Rafael leaned forward across the table, wearing a cocky expression of his own. "Counsellor, we're going after your client for all six rapes. All of them, including the Far Rockaway rape and the double murder."

"You're chasing a sixteen-year-old murder case with two confessions?" the lawyer said. "And a district attorney who's playing poker with tarot cards." _Great. The rumours have made it to him as well. Well, he might never have to know about the papers._

"You wanna cut a deal?" Rafael sneered. "Your client allocutes to the Hernandez murders and then maybe I am generous and go with criminally negligent homicide and rape two on the other six."

"I ain't 'fessing to no crack ho murders," Stanton sneered, "and I ain't copping to no pedo rapes. No short-eye pleas like those 'mos Torres and Hernandez did."

"What do you know about that?" Olivia asked.

"I got no idea how Carlos has lasted sixteen years in Green Haven," Stanton stated. "Everyone knows he's a fag."

"All right, that's okay, Tim," the legal aid attorney said. "Look, we're done here. I'll be taking my client back to processing.

Olivia got up and walked over to it, gesturing as she talked to the rookie cop outside. "Get him out of here."

"You insist to murders and child rapes," the attorney said, giving him what Rafael guessed was supposed to be an intimidating look, "we'll go to the mat in _my_ ring."

When the door closed Rafael sighed.

"Well, he's certainly something else."

Rafael nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose. "There's something Stanton said. Now Carlos told us that he had an alibi for the night of the murders, but he wouldn't talk about it. I'm pretty sure I now know why." He licked his lips. "I've got to go see him."

She nodded. "Take Fin."

Throwing his overcoat back on, he walked out of the room. "Sergeant, grab your keys. We're taking a little trip."

The entire drive, Rafael was hoping the man would actually talk to him.

"A retrial?" Hernandez said. "I can't have no D.A asking me questions, man."

"Okay, Carlos... about that." Rafael turned to the guard. "Give a few minutes, please."

Thankfully, the guard didn't put up a fight and left, giving them some privacy.

"Háblame, por favor," Rafael said after a moment. "Juro que es confidencial. No saldrá de esta sala. Not if you don't want it to." (Talk to me, please. I swear it's confidential. It will not leave this room.)

Hernandez was obviously trying to pull himself together, trying to decide if he could actually trust Rafael not to use the situation against him.

"Where were you that night?"

"I was at the beach."

"What beach?" Rafael asked.

"Plumb Beach in Brooklyn."

He nodded. That was the boy-meets-boy beach off Belt Parkway. "Off Belt Parkway, right? Estoy bastante familiarizado con eso." (I'm rather familiar with it.)

Hernandez gave him a look of surprise. "You're -?"

"Sí. So, you and Ricky hooked up?"

Another nod. "That was the first time. Beautiful night. Until I got home and I found my mommy and Jacinta dead on the floor."

"Coming out isn't easy," Rafael said, "but times have changed."

"No aquí," Hernandez said, pointing out exactly where they were. "In here? Out of the closet means into a casket. The other inmates find out I'm gay? Gangs will turn me into a Maytag. Washing socks and spit-shining. I'd get bitched out until I got the bug. Como Ricky." (Not here. Like Ricky.)

Rafael nodded. "I get it, I do. He sido golpeado y llamado maricón antes. And that's nothing to what will happen to you in here." Hernandez gave him a look, curious as to where this was going. "That's also why I want to get you a new trial. Get this conviction overturned." (I've been beaten and called a fag before.)

Hernandez took a shaky breath. "If Ricky testifies..."

He sighed. "Ricky won't be testifying."

A look of pain and understanding filled the other man's features. "When did he die?"

"A week ago." Hernandez rubbed his face. "But we still have the letter, the IDs, and the DNA from several crime scenes."

Hernandez nodded, clearly not knowing or not willing to say what was running through his mind at that moment.

When Rafael and the sergeant left, Rafael immediately called Rita Calhoun, wanting Hernandez to have a good defence attorney on his side that would be willing to work with Rafael on this.

While he was doing that, Olivia went to talk to the Perez family and make sure that Lupe was willing and able to take stand eventually.

She was willing, which just left Rafael to deal with Rita. He'd opted for a semi-casual lunch at Forlini's as it was close enough to work for the both of them.

"All this really happened because they ignored DNA evidence and the accused couldn't give his alibi without getting raped inside?"

"Unfortunately." He sighed. "Look, Rita, I'll throw in dinner and your favourite bottle of wine along with your usual rate if you take it. I don't want the likes of Braun or Buchanan touching this." They'd drag it out and use it to cause a media frenzy, just to get themselves put in the spotlight. They both knew it.

"Make it two bottles and I'll do it pro-bono," she said.

"Deal."

She looked at him. "I'll call in a favour as well. Make sure the right judge rules in this appeal." Perfect. That was a huge weight off Rafael's shoulders. This would be an easy process then "The man deserves to get what he can of his life back."

Wasn't that the truth.

Judge Mary Connor was the presiding judge. "Counsellor, you're representing the defendant, Carlos Hernandez?"

"Yes, Your Honour."

"I understand you have a motion?"

"I do," Rita confirmed. "Based on new exculpatory evidence that has come to light, defence moves to immediately vacate the sentence of Carlos Hernandez."

"People?"

"The people believe there's been a gross miscarriage of justice here, Your Honour," he stated. "New DNA evidence has been brought to our attention which implicates a serial predator - who's recently been taken into police custody - in these crimes. As such, the people request that this verdict be vacated."

The judge nodded. "Mr. Hernandez, please stand."

Rafael watched as Hernandez did as asked.

"Carlos Hernandez, I apologize on behalf of the state of New York for your wrongful imprisonment that has cost you sixteen years of your life," Judge Connor said. "It is my duty today to vacate this unjust conviction. You are free to go. Bailiffs, take off those chains."

Watching the man walked pulled at both the sergeant and prosecutor's heartstrings. He was still walking as though his legs were chained. After a moment, Fin spoke up. "You can walk like a man now, Carlos."

Rafael nodded. "Un hombre libre." He licked his lips before stepping forward. "Si necesitas algo, llámame. Adapting to life on the outside is a challenge. If you find yourself struggling, call." (A free man. If you need anything, call me.)

"Can I ask you a favour?"

Rafael nodded.

"At night I still get the horrors, wondering where my mami and my little sister are buried. Thinking that they're in an even worse place than I've been," Hernandez said, looking down. "I don't know... Potter's field or unmarked graves... just lost souls." He looked up and met Rafael's eyes. "Find out where my family's buried."

Rafael nodded again, before glancing at Fin and back to the man in front of him. "I'll try, Carlos, I promise you that."

Hernandez nodded before walking away in a fashion that broke Rafael's heart, so used to the chains he used to be forced to wear.

With that mess finally dealt with, more of a relief than Rafael would like to admit, he went down to the 1-6 with the sergeant to fill Olivia in and make sure the squad was on the same page with the Stanton case now that they could officially move forward with it.

Stanton ended up agreeing to plead guilty to two murders, but not Lupe's rape. It meant that Lupe wouldn't have to testify, which the mother preferred, although Lupe wanted to take the stand. The pair said it was fine, but he could tell it stung for Lupe that Stanton wasn't actually going to pay for what he did to her. All they could do was assure her he was going away for a very long time.

He'd also noticed that Olivia was a bit off, although he couldn't tell why. He had a feeling she was upset about something, though.

He'd eventually went to the squad room to grab a coffee and one of the cannolis that Carisi ended up treating them all to from his favourite bakery. They really _were_ good.

While he did that, Rollins stayed back to chat with her.

Finally, Olivia came out looking quite sombre-faced. "Liv, are you okay?"

She shook her head in the negative. "Simon, he died."

"What?"

"Um, I got the call when I was out with Kat speaking to Lupe and her mother about testifying," she said. She took a shaky breath. "He overdosed. Heroin laced with fentanyl." She swallowed. "They, uh, they found the body in a motel room. No signs of foul play."

"I thought he told you he was sober?" Rafael said with a frown.

She sighed. "He was telling the truth. Melinda said he'd been clean for quite a while."

Rafael didn't know what to make of that. "So it was not a suicide?"

She shook her head. "Dosage wasn't large enough apparently. He just got his hands on the wrong stuff. A freak accident."

He pulled her in for a hug. "I'm so sorry, Cariño."

"When he didn't show for lunch, I left him a message and I told him not to call me. Ever," she said. "We weren't close, but -"

Rafael nodded in understanding. "- But he was still family."

She gave a curt nod, wiping the tears away. "I just told Amanda. She's the only other one who knows." She shook her head. "Just take me home."

He nodded. "Of course, Cariño. Let's get out of here." He gave her a pointed look. "But don't you blame yourself for this. Not for one second."

She gave him a watery smile. "I love you."

"I love you too, Liv!" he said. "So so much."

She pulled him into another hug. "What would I do without you?" she whispered.

He kissed her forehead. "Just what you usually do."

The next couple days were no doubt going to prove interesting, but he knew both Olivia and Carlos would make it through this. They'd survived so much already, they, with a little support, could get through this as well.

"That stone looks new," Hernandez said as he looked at the gravestones of his mother and little sister.

"Some people read about your case," Rafael explained. "There was a fundraiser. A GoFundMe, I think."

"More than a few folks chipped in," Fin said.

The younger man looked at both of them. "How can I ever thank you?"

Rafael gave the man a lopsided smile. "Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude._"_


	97. Chapter 97

As the thirteenth of December dawned, so came slightly colder temperatures. It was looking like they might actually get a bit of snow this week, even though it wasn't especially common to get much snow in December at all, January being more likely than anything else.

That also meant that you for weeks now couldn't go anywhere without hearing Christmas music playing and, especially now, dealing with crowds trying to get some holiday shopping done.

It also meant that the house had been decorated extensively, with Noah putting the star on the top of the tree as well as an ornament that he'd made at school.

Moreover, Noah only had a week left of school before he was off for Christmas holidays. The school was having a Christmas concert that final Friday and Noah's class was also having a Christmas party that same day.

Olivia was in the shower, and Noah was dressed and eating a bowl of raisin bran while Sofia, who Liv had given a bottle of formula to not even a half-hour ago, played quite happily in her jumper.

His son caught his attention as Rafael was making his way out of the room. "¿Papi, puedo tener más después, por favor?" (Papi, can I have more after, please?)

Rafael nodded his consent. It was fine, as long as Noah didn't take more than he was actually going to finish, which the seven-year-old had a bad habit of doing. "Solo un poquito, hum." (Just a little bit, hmmm.)

"Okay, Papi," the boy said happily as he grabbed the box of cereal. "Abuelita said I get to pick a movie to watch tonight."

"She did, did she?" he inquired, not surprised. He fully expected that to be the case. "¿Has elegido una?" (Have you picked one?)

The seven-year-old nodded enthusiastically. "Narnia."

He chuckled softly. "Why am I not remotely surprised?" That series had recently become a favourite of Noah's.

Satisfied the kids were alright, he rummaged through his closet. Deciding on his camel overcoat in lieu of the black one he selected black pants and matching suit jacket with a white dress shirt. He then selected a dark red tie and white pocket square. He then went with a pair of white mid-calf high socks with red polka dots, red-stripped suspenders, and a pair of black shoes to finish the outfit.

He heard the shower turn off as he was finishing his tie. While Olivia was rummaging through her clothes he heard some fussy babbling coming from outside. Smiling, he went out to the living room and picked up Sofia. "¿Tienes hambre, Princesa?" He played with her toes some, causing her to coo, before going back to fussing. "Eso sería un sí." (Are you hungry, Princess? That would be a yes.)

Knowing he was tight on time before he had to leave for work, Rafael took Sofia to the kitchen, bouncing her gently on the way to calm her. He then put her in her high chair and threw a bowl of rice cereal together for her breakfast.

Once Sofia had eaten and Olivia came out he'd placed Sofia back in her jumper for a few minutes while they had their own breakfast. Rafael went with some bread and butter and café con leche while Olivia had some maple and brown sugar porridge with a coffee of her own.

They chatted for a bit over breakfast - Noah included, as he joined them while he drank a glass of apple juice - before Lucy arrived. Almost immediately after Rafael had had to run to work so that he could actually stand a chance at making it to their date night later. They were planning to go for dinner at Babbo's later and then go dancing. They'd also looked at going to see another show in the near future but hadn't gotten any tickets yet. They'd actually gone a couple weeks ago to see Seared at MCC Theatre after getting tickets for one of the 7:30pm shows. That had been priceless. It was really well done and actually felt like you were in a restaurant with the actors. Both his and Liv's favourite moment had be when Harry, the chef, jumped up and down yelling that he wasn't a child.

As for tonight, his mother had already agreed to have the children over for a sleepover, ever the doting grandmother.

After a short meeting, Rafael headed to court. A continuance had been requested on yesterday's trial and Rafael was a bit stressed out, honestly. He didn't expect today to go much smoother and was concerned his victim would cave.

Rafael had recently caught a frat party rape case. The defendant was representing himself, although the man had an advising attorney from legal aid with him at all times. Rafael knew he was likely overreacting or even projecting but he was having some William Lewis déjà vu and he really didn't want to fail this time.

Yesterday really had been a mess after the direct examination**.**

As the defendant, Tyler Selders, approached the lectern to begin questioning, the victim, Jessica Murdock, leaned forward in her chair on the witness stand, her mouth tightened and narrowed.

"How you doing?" Selders asked

"How you doing?" Murdock repeated with a note of disdain.

Selders then asked the woman to state her name. Judge Amanda Anderlee had instructed Selders to refer to himself as "the defendant" or "Mr. Selders" in an attempt to keep the waters from getting too murky.

Selders was expected to follow the questions written for him by his court-appointed advising attorney, Matthew McEachern. But the man had quickly opted to follow his own script and attack the victim.

"Do you consider yourself an emotional female?" Selders asked.

Rafael immediately objected. He could already tell that this line of questions was going to get ridiculous and go from bad to worse.

"Sustained."

Mr. Selders didn't look fazed. "My bad." The man then threw out another question: "Are you familiar with the movie 'Fifty Shades of Grey'?"

Rafael again moved to object to the line of questioning and a juror in the front row bowed and shook his head. "Objection. Relevance."

The defendant smile. "It'll become clear in short order, Your Honour."

The judge sighed. "I'll allow you some latitude because you're representing yourself, Mr. Selders, but watch it."

Selders nodded. "So, Ms. Murdock, is it true that you were obsessed with the defendant?" he then asked.

Rafael objected. Again. However, Ms. Murdock decided to answer anyway. "No."

The advising attorney tried to help Selders who immediately snapped when he tried reminding him that, "I am the attorney." He'd then jumped back into his questions. "Don't you think the defendant is handsome?"

"No, honestly no," Ms. Murdock responded.

Mr. Selders then asked Ms. Murdock why she gave him her phone number earlier in the night if she did not find him attractive. "I gave it to you so I could block you."

"Then why did you go downstairs with him at the party?" Selders asked.

"To play a game of pool," she responded. "That's all."

The questioning by Selders lasted most of Wednesday afternoon. By the end of the day, the judge dismissed everyone saying she would see them the following day for the completion of the trial.

He sighed as he walked into court, glad to see everyone was there on time and he had time to go over his line of questioning once more for the redirect. He needed to do it as he really needed to do some damage control.

Once the judge was there, however, and the proceedings started it became clear that the plans had changed. Based on Selder's performance in court, Judge Anderlee excused the jury for the day. Apparently based on a recommendation by McEachern, his attorney, the judge ordered a psychologist to interview Selders to determine whether he was competent to continue with the trial. Rafael thought it was ridiculous, but he bit his tongue.

Not surprisingly, Selders objected to the forensic evaluation when the judge brought it up. At one point, he and two unis got into a brief verbal altercation as the officers ordered Selders to sit in his seat.

Regardless, the judge stood her ground and the mess was now put on hold until at least Monday when the report would hopefully be filed which would decide if Rafael could proceed with trying the defendant or not. Rafael was more irritated than concerned though, as he had little doubt the man would be found competent. It was more a waste of Rafael's time than anything.

Shaking his head, he made his way out of the courtroom and headed to his office to get some of his other work done after he filled the squad in on what had transpired at court that morning. He had more than a few work e-mails to reply to on top of all the files on his desk.

"That was the only good thing about the pause in the trial," Rafael thought to himself as he poured himself a coffee before taking a seat back at his desk. He had no meetings scheduled due to the trial so with any luck, he would actually be able to focus on managing his files for most of the day.


	98. Chapter 98

It had been a good weekend by all accounts. Date night had been a success by any stretch of the imagination. Dinner had gone quite well, although the food had taken a bit longer to come out then the pair would have liked and then they went to Club Cache to do some dancing.

When they first got there it wasn't too crowded. As the night went on there were more people arriving, but there were no issues, everyone just keeping to themselves and having a good time. The drinks were good and a little strong, which suited them both perfectly well.

Olivia had loosened up quite a bit since they'd gotten together as she'd become a lot more comfortable dancing due to simply having practice, so they both really enjoyed themselves. And the thing with the specific club was there was quite a range of skills and quite a few older people so no real reason to feel judged in any way and they weren't stuck dealing with a bunch of twenty-one-year-olds.

She was a fairly good salsa dancer now and had picked up the basics for the bachata quickly too. While Quimbara was playing neither could keep the massive grins off their faces as they just danced and let loose, enjoying the time alone as a couple with no kids or work in the way. They loved their jobs and the kids, but there was just something about having a little time for themselves every once in a while.

He was more than a little amused when some of the younger, newer, dancers stopped to watch and whistled, but Rafael just smirked and continued on dancing.

Among the dancing and dinner they'd talked and had few drinks, watching what was going on around them, but weren't aiming to get particularly drunk so only had a couple and mainly just danced. They'd ended up losing track of time, actually, so it was quite late when they finally caught a cab home.

After brunch with his mother and the kids on Saturday, they changed out of their 'Sunday best.' Rafael threw on a pair of jeans, a black button-down shirt, and his puffy, brown, coat along with his red scarf. They then went to the Bryant Park winter village for some ice skating and to check out some of the venders, only grabbing a small snack later instead of an actual meal given the late brunch.

Noah also had no qualms whatsoever about pointing out some things he saw that he'd like for Christmas which just caused Rafael to shake his head with amusement. They'd also managed to get a picture of the kids with Santa at Macy's Santaland.

Sofía's reaction had been hilarious, however, as she seemed torn between 'who the heck is this' and 'this nice man has a beard I can pull.'

It took a few tries to get a nice photo with her looking at the camera, much to both of their amusement. They'd captured a few silly moments if her messing around as well, one of which Olivia had decided she was definitely going to frame.

Another older couple they ran into actually offered to take a family photo for them which they took them up on after they chatted for some time. They then went their own separate ways, the Barba-Benson clan making their way home for dinner. An easy Macaroni and Cheese. They'd then made some popcorn and had a little family movie night.

Sunday was a bit calmer, after Mass, they had lunch with his mother and then went grocery shopping for the week. With that done, they headed home for where they played with the kids before Rita stopped in for coffee.

She'd been her usual self, of course, and had known him since college, not hesitating at all to comment on some of the stupid college antics that Rafael had gotten up to back then.

Rafael gave as good as he got, though, having a few stories of his own about the two women who started ganging up on him.

Rita was currently actually going over how they'd met in freshman year and was doing a lovely job of painting Rafael as... well... he couldn't even argue that he was an obnoxious nerd, especially at the time. He'd been working overtime, he felt, to prove himself, to prove he deserved to be there.

In hindsight, he was glad he had because it got him a career he loved and opportunities he otherwise wouldn't have had come from his background, but he was glad he got passed the point of feeling the need to apologize for being who he was.

He was pulled out of these musing as Rita cracked a pretty bad joke.

He shook his head, amused. "Says the woman who couldn't figure out how I was Latin given my colouring when she saw me reading in Spanish."

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Really, Rita?"

Rita laughed. "I didn't know a lot of Latinos growing up, ok."

Rafael rolled his eyes. "Excuses. Excuses. In her defence, she did sign up for Spanish classes rather quickly and at least attempted to educate herself."

Rita gave a snort. "Spanish is more useful than my high-school French. I can't remember ninety percent of that crap." She looked at Noah, who had joined them a couple of minutes ago as he wanted a hot chocolate. "Thank your parents for teaching you another language while you're young, Kiddo. Learning it when you're older is a royal pain in the keister."

Noah beamed up at Rita, throwing a couple more marshmallows into his hot chocolate to a gentle warning look from Liv to not overdo it. "I like speaking Spanish with Papi and Abuelita. It's pretty."

Rafael ruffled the kid's hair. "I'm glad, Mijo."

Rita looked at them both. "So, did you get your time off approved?"

Rafael, Olivia, his mother, and the kids were all going to Miami this year to spend Christmas and New Years with his aunt and Ricardo.

"Yes," Rafael confirmed. "I got the confirmation a week ago and Liv got hers two days later. Two weeks in warm sunny Miami. I already bought our tickets. I worked the Christmas shift last year so the D.A's Office can manage themselves for a few days. The last time I took the holiday off was Gstaad."

They, of course, had needed to contact Sofía's caseworker to request permission for her to go with them, which they'd received the night before.

"And I, the Bahamas," Olivia added. "Fin's family is all here, so he'll cover until Christmas eve and then head over to his relatives in time for dinner with any luck."

"Don't I know it," Rita said. "Ah well, the scorpions keep us in business." A slight shrug. "I'm taking a few days off to go home to Cali and then going to Venice for a week with a friend."

"Where's that?" Noah asked curiously.

"Italy," Rita explained.

"Like where Uncle Sonny's family is from?" Noah asked, turning to Olivia.

"Exactly, Sweetie."

"So, Venice," Rafael stated. "With whom?"

Rita gave him a mischievous look. "A friend." He gave her a look, to which her only reply was to take a sip of her coffee.

Olivia laughed. "Pleading the fifth, I see."

Rafael rolled his eyes. "As long as it's not another jackass."

Olivia shook her head before looking at Rita. "Ever been to Positano? I went there, god knows how many years ago now, but loved it."

"Raf and I actually both did," Rita confirmed. "The year before I left prosecuting, I think. We hit Positano and Portofino."

"How was Portofino?" Liv inquired.

"Lovely actually," Rita said, "but it's rather small."

While the two women were chatting Rafael's attention was pulled towards Noah who was tugging on his arm. "Puedo ver mi programa? I won't spill my drink, promise."

"Fine, you already drank most," Rafael said, "just be careful not to spill."

The young boy nodded before running to the living room and plopping down on the couch to finish watching Arthur, a show he'd recently gotten into when he'd watch it at a friend's house when he went there after school not too long ago.

They all chatted for a while longer before Rita finally had to head home.

He helped Liv do a couple of chores around the house before starting on dinner. Arroz con pollo and torrejas.

While he was cleaning up the dishes, Olivia finished changing Sofía, put her in her playpen, and heated up some of the apple cider that they'd bought the day before. Rafael then went to grab some board games from the cupboard. So, with three steaming mugs of hot cider, they sat around telling stories and playing games until it was finally time for them to call it a night.


	99. Chapter 99

_**Judge declares mistrial in Manhattan rape case in which defendant represented himself**_

_A New York judge on Monday declared a mistrial in the case of a man accused of rape who represented himself at trial and argued the sexual encounter was consensual._

_It was not clear why New York Supreme Court Judge Amanda Anderlee halted the trial of Tyler Selders._

_The jury considering the case had reported last week that it was deadlocked. In court Monday, Anderlee polled the panel and it remained split, with 10 people saying they would have voted not guilty and two saying they would have voted guilty, according to a lawyer assisting in Selders' defence._

_Anderlee ordered Selders to remain in custody until a hearing Dec. 19, at which point prosecutors will decide whether to try him a second time._

Rafael groaned as he threw the newspaper down on the table, not bothering to read the rest of the rather lengthy article.

When the case had returned to court, Selders continued to briefly question the victim before she was excused from the witness stand. Closing arguments followed, and before long the jury was dismissed again.

After the jury was dismissed, Anderlee said jurors were skeptical about the victim's story. "Despite the lack of Mr. Selders' formal training, there were some credibility issues that the jury had with the complaining witness's story," Anderlee had said.

To say that mess irritated Rafael had been an understatement, and he felt horrible. When he had to give the news to the twenty-one-year-old victim she'd just looked at him and ran to throw up.

There was no training for delivering tough news to victims in law school. It was a part of the criminal justice system that nobody liked and only got marginally easier with years of experience. Hence the thick skin you needed to have to do this job, for numerous reasons.

He took a sip of his coffee. "I love this job, but sometimes it's just -"

She gave him a sad smile. "I know." She gave him a quick kiss. "Vacation soon, though. Can you escape for lunch today or do you have a meeting?"

He smirked. "I have a meeting with Buchanan, but I doubt it'll run late as he likely has nothing to say that I even want to hear."

She snorted. "Fair enough."

He nodded. "Forlini's?"

"Fine by me," she said, leaning in for a kiss.

He hummed softly, and they chatted for another couple of minutes before he helped get Noah's things together as the kid had almost completely forgotten his lunch and left to drop Noah off at school before heading to work in the middle of a snowfall.

Rafael had several meetings that morning, but no court and was able to focus on managing his files and making sure everything was as in order as they could be for when he was off and dealing with more than a few phone calls with ADAs regarding various active cases.

Buchanan and Rafael went back and forth negotiating a deal for one of his cases and although Buchanan had started at a sentence of three years Rafael had been able to talk him up to eight which was better than Rafael knew he'd get in court given how unreliable the witness in that particular case was.

Lunch with Liv had been rather enjoyable, and it looked like he was going to have an easier afternoon as he'd only been called down to the 16th briefly to deal with a perp who'd already confessed and wanted to cut a deal.

That hadn't taken long and then he spent the rest of his afternoon managing his files and getting as much work done as he possibly could.

The interesting thing was seeing Rollins showing of her engagement ring as Carisi had finally popped the question.

The pair definitely seemed elated and Rafael and the rest of the squad were thrilled for them. They were as odd a pair as he and Olivia were, but somehow just worked.

He'd been up to his neck in case law and coffee when there was a sudden knock on the door. Not fully paying attention, and expecting it to be Carmen or one of his ADAs, he simply called out for the person to come in, before taking a drink of coffee.

The person who walked in made him almost spit out his coffee. He quickly forced a neutral expression on his face. "Rafael, old friend."

"Alejandro," he said, leaning forward in his chair slightly, "can I help you?"

The other man was standing with his shoulders squared off and hips facing forward with hands down at the sides. "Hablaste con Yelina." (You spoke with Yelina.)

Rafael nodded. "Sí. We ran into each other over lunch some time ago."

Alex was trying to look calm and unbothered, but Rafael knew him and the political game well enough to see the layers of anger underneath. "Yelina and I have tried very hard to save our marriage. I would appreciate it if you didn't go behind my back with my wife."

"She sought me out, mi socio." As he spoke, he stood up and walked to the other side of his desk, taking a place right beside his former friend. Rafael had his legs close together with his weight pushed forward. His head and chin were tilted forward, and he shifted slightly so he was off-center. "And I have never once interfered in your relationship with Yelina. I have no intention of starting now."

Alex lost most of his stiff posture. "I had hoped that was the case, but I just wanted to make sure that we're on the same page." Alex looked quite pleased. "I also hear congratulations are in order." He pointed to the family photo on Rafael's desk. "Une esposa y una niña." (A wife and little girl.)

He forced a smile. The ignoring of Noah was deliberate. He also opted not to mention that Sofía wasn't biologically his. Green eyes or not. He didn't owe anyone an explanation, let alone Muñoz. "And a seven-year-old son."

"Good on you. I couldn't do it, raise a kid that isn't mine, I mean," Alex stated. Rafael tried to keep most of the offence off his face. "¿Cómo se llama?" (What's his name?)

"Noah," he explained. "Noah y Sofía." He moved to grab his phone. "As fun as this has been, I'm rather busy and need to make a call regarding a file." He raised an eyebrow. "I trust you can see yourself out?"

"For what it's worth," Alex said, "I am sorry for the way things ended. I know you were just doing your job."

"Are you sure about that?" It came out a bit harsher than intended.

Alex gave him a look that almost seemed sincere. "On the grave of mi abuelita."

He played with his face some. "It was not an easy decision. You were my oldest friend." The other man nodded. "But, apparently years of friendship meant nothing to you. I'm just the lapdog of this city's aristocracy, isn't that right?" The other man swallowed, clearly nervous. "I risked everything that I had to help you, Alex, and you threw it all in my face."

"Rafael -"

Rafael licked his lips. "¡Que te vayas! I want you out of my office." (Get out!)

The other man dipped his head in confirmation, but besides a brief glance at Rafael as he left, he said and did nothing, which Rafael actually preferred.

The second the door closed behind Alex, Rafael let out a huge breath. He then went and poured himself a glass of scotch and downed it while looking out the window, a million things running through his mind.

Carmen walked in putting her arm around him in a comforting motion. "It's okay to miss the memories and not the person, you know."

He gave her a sad smile. "I know."


	100. Chapter 100

The next two days were more than a little stressful as they had a lot of last-minute things to do in regards to packing and clothes shopping. Sofía also hadn't been feeling well so had been more than a little fussy, although come Thursday she seemed to be feeling a lot better and her fever was gone.

He was glad as he had been more than a little concerned. He'd felt bad for the little tyke. Olivia handled it better than he had, by far, honestly. More than that, though, was Rafael having the hearing regarding the People v. Selders, in which he had to formally drop the charges as with the victim not willing to go through everything again, he had an even weaker case than before. He knew when to cut his loses.

He'd known that would likely be the case since the previous Monday, but it still left a bit of a bitter taste in his mouth at having to do it.

"You ok, Counsellor?"

"Welcome to the fun part of being a lawyer," Rafael deadpanned, as he walked away from Carisi to pour himself a coffee. The blond detective followed. "Have you thought any more about making use of that law degree?"

"I've considered it some," Carisi said, "but I'm not sure right now is the best time to be changing careers."

He gave a lopsided smile. "I get it."

Those last couple of days, they thankfully only caught a couple of minor incidents that were, unfortunately, a lot more common this time of year with all the Christmas parties and drinking that took place during the holiday season.

So Rafael had spent some time down at the 1-6 cutting a couple of deals, and a fair amount in court, for a series of misdemeanours and a trial for a domestic violence case where a thirty-year-old woman was abusing her girlfriend.

When that wasn't going on he was just overseeing his ADAs cases and buckling down to get his work done.

For Noah's class Christmas party that Friday, the night before Noah opted to make Christmas tree cupcakes with green icing, sprinkles and candy stars. Along with another batch of chocolate cupcakes decorated like reindeer - which had pretzels for the antlers, thanks to some creative thinking.

It had been fun baking as a family and they really had turned out quite well. After that, they had some spaghetti for dinner and sat down to watch The Polar Express over a mug of hot chocolate as well as their own batch of freshly baked chocolate cupcakes.

Friday had been a lot more hectic from the previous two days. He had several important meetings caught three misdemeanours and one felony assault. Rafael wanted to groan when he got the call, but thankfully, the case hadn't gone quite as bad as it could have.

The twenty-year-old suspect didn't talk at all, but a younger friend of his didn't take long to admit to what he'd seen, showing them a video that one of the perps little friends had taken and ended up making a deal. Rafael had to call in some favours to get a judge to actually make time for it in such short notice, but Judge Bertuccio eventually came through. So, the case wasn't going to be that hard to make.

He hadn't been able to fit Rafael in until later in the day, unfortunately, but it could have been worse, and while he'd waited Rafael had managed to get caught up on the last of his files after having a sandwich for lunch.

The only exception being the paperwork to hand over his cases to Casey Novak. Given he had several cases with court dates set for while he was gone, it was necessary. She'd generously agreed to move to full-time temporarily, taking over his caseload during his absence, save for a small handful that was dispersed between two other high ranking ADAs of his.

He also had to make a couple of adjustments to make things work with the other ADAs who were taking a couple of days off. It had already been dealt with, but a scheduling conflict he'd missed had been brought to his attention.

After going through everything to figure the mess out, he'd called Carmen in to get her to take a look. She'd figured out a way to move things around quite quickly, which made a huge wave of relief wash over him.

"What would you do without me?" she said, a smug yet playful look on her face. She was teasing, no malicious intent behind the words.

He snorted. "Drowned probably."

She rolled her eyes. "Finish up soon and head home to your family."

He gave her a warm smile, nodding. "I will shortly." He pushed the chair out and stood up. "Go home. And I know it's early, but merry Christmas." He pulled her in for a hug. "I'll see you in the new year." He reached over and picked up a small package, passing it to her. "Don't open it until Christmas, hmmm."

She chuckled. "I won't. Same goes for yours."

He smirked. "I make no promised."

She'd given him his gift that morning, having left it on his desk with a note first thing, but he'd been too busy himself to actually give her hers earlier.

She rolled her eyes. "Merry Christmas to you too, Mr. Cheeky."

He laughed as she walked, heading home.

He organized his office, putting everything away so nothing was left out or out of place, and then threw his coat on, going home to his family.

When he walked in it was to the smell of Teriyaki Chicken cooking.

After speaking some with Noah and checking on Sofia who was in her jumper, more than content enough, he made his way to the kitchen where Olivia was making dinner: Teriyaki Chicken with rice and broccoli.

He gave her a quick kiss. "Dinner smells good."

She gave him an amused look. "Do me a favour and tell that to Amanda next time you see her, will you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Anything for you, my take-out queen."

She slapped him playfully on the arm. "Love you too, husband of mine. And just for that, you can set the table for us."

He chuckled. "Consider it done."

It was only a couple of minutes left until dinner was ready, and they sat down to eat, Sofia in her highchair in between Rafael and Olivia.

So," Rafael asked, turning to Noah. "How was the party?"

The boy beamed. "It was fun. We got to play some games, and there were lots of snacks too. And we got to sing Christmas Carols."

He smiled. "That does sound like fun."

"What games did you play?" Olivia asked, taking a drink of her tea.

"First, Pin the Nose on the Snowman," the boy explained. "And we had a candy cane hunt, and, and Santa Says."

"Wow!" Rafael said. "You kids really were busy. Which was your favourite game?"

"The candy cane hunt," Noah said after a minute. "We got to run around and I found lots. Like six. And Ms. Green gave us all a Caramel Apple Pop."

Olivia looked at Noah fondly. "I hope you didn't eat all that candy already."

Noah gave her a cheeky look in between bites of food. "I won't have dessert after."

She sighed before giving Noah an amused look, and grabbing Sofia and putting her on her lap to feed her as the little girl was getting a bit fussy.

Dinner continued amicably, and afterwards, they went over some last-minute packing, making sure everything was in order.

Rafael packed eight days worth of clothes, a fedora hat and a couple other odds and ends. He had a suit packed as well as a pair of suspenders, just in case, as he knew certain places in Miami were rather strict with dress codes.

Olivia had her own suitcase, as did Noah, which Olivia verified to make sure that Noah actually packed what he needed for at least a week. They'd had to buy him a couple of new outfits though, which was fine. Noah also got his very own pair of khaki pants and white guayabera for Christmas eve dinner along with a fedora hat and a pair of new shoes. He'd then asked for an ecru one that he said would go great with a pair of light blue shorts that Noah'd just got.

They'd also let Noah fill a small backpack up with a couple of small things to occupy him while they were flying and so he'd have a couple of small toys and whatnot for downtime during the actual vacation itself.

Rafael made sure that Sofia's diaper bag was restocked. Then, in a separate suitcase, he packed a weeks worth of clothes for her, including a small hat and a light pink guayabera dress for her, and made sure that anything else they'd need for Sofia that wouldn't fit in the diaper bag or be needed on the plane was in it. As well as any other small extras that didn't make their way into the other suitcases.

They then threw some extras into another small backpack for a carryon, including his aunt's gift. The rest of the gifts had been ordered and delivered to his tía's house for her hide from the everyone in her guest room so they were out of the way. They were renting a house - AirBNB - as it was easiest, although would probably end up crashing at his aunt's at least once. Most of Noah's gifts were being saved for when they got back, making sure the boy had something for el Día de Los Reyes when they got back. Still, there was a smaller one they were bringing for him to open Christmas eve.

Three Kings Day was when Cubans typically opened their gifts and as Ricardo's family would be celebrating Christmas the more traditional way, and Noah was already going to have enough things to bring back as it was.

And it was just another cultural thing to pass onto Noah who had been quite interested in learning more about the other holiday.

Of course, there were a couple of things they'd be getting when they actually landed in Florida. Largely for Sofia, but a rental car was among those things, although his aunt had actually gotten a small travel crib already for Sofia and some formula, which was going to be a huge help so they weren't in a major rush when they got there to get everything for the infant.

Packing done, Rafael changed Sofia and put her to bed while Liv heated up the rest of their apple cider and got Noah to get his pyjamas on before the three of them sat down to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas together.

All in all, a good way to spend their last night home.


	101. Chapter 101

Waking up at four o'clock in the morning was a bit rough going, but they'd prepared as much as possible the night before so after feeding the kids, although Noah wasn't particularly hungry, and getting them dressed they put a groggy Noah in the back of their car with a blanket with Sofía - who they were purposefully keeping awake as long as possible - in her car seat as Rafael brought out their baggage and Olivia tried to load the mess into the car.

Double-checking with Olivia that they had all the bags and documents that they needed, Rafael made sure the lights were all off and everything in the house was properly locked, before he went outside, hopping into the driver's seat.

They were halfway to LaGuardia when Noah'd fallen back asleep, but he roused easily enough and they made it on time for their 7:30 flight without too much of rush.

His mother, who met them at the airport, immediately grabbed them a luggage cart, which made getting all their luggage inside a million times easier.

Noah was slightly nervous in the beginning, a bit uncomfortable with take-off, but quickly relaxed and ended up sleeping most of the flight. As did Sofía, thankfully, which meant the kids would hopefully not be too cranky that day. They'd fed her half of what she usually ate earlier, so they'd be able to time her feedings with take-off and landing to help relieve ear pressure. They'd checked her stroller in with the main luggage and brought her car seat on the plane for Sofía to sit in. It had cost them a bit more in fees but made things easier in the long run.

They'd tried to get a little bit of sleep themselves, but neither had managed much. The flight wasn't too long, thankfully, so with the decent weather, the plane was landing in Miami International at half-past-ten, right on schedule.

They loaded all their luggage onto a cart and then made their way to the car rental agency just off the airport to get two cars so that they all had a degree of freedom. It was still too early to check into their AirBNB, so they just made the drive to the house in Kendall where his tía was already waiting for them, his mother following behind him as she didn't know the way well.

"Are we there yet?" their son asked, clearly done with travelling. Rafael couldn't blame the kid. He was rather eager to get out of the car as well.

"Soon," Rafael assured him. "Just a couple more blocks."

Finally, he took the last right turn onto SW 115th Ct, and pulled up to the white house Rafael knew to be his aunt's.

"Nice house," Olivia comment. "A really nice area in general too, not to mention that yard." She raised an eyebrow. "Now I get how you got roped into staying here."

He smirked. "Indeed."

As Olivia was grabbing Sofía from the back, his aunt and Ricardo's sister Camila, who Rafael had known just as long as Ricardo, came out, ushering them inside, the sent of agua de violetas immediately hitting his nose, causing him to smile. It was so _home_.

After brief introductions his aunt grabbing them cafecitos, while Olivia changed Sofía and Rafael set up the playpen his aunt had grabbed for them.

Rafael not surprised in the slightest to hear music, specifically _Cuando Salí de Cuba_, playing not so softly in the background.

It was honestly a beautiful song, although rather poignant. It had a knack for turning his mother and abuela into a sappy mess, understandably.

_Cuando salí de Cuba_  
_Dejé mi vida dejé mi amor_  
_Cuando salí de Cuba_  
_Dejé enterrado mi corazón_

It always got him thinking about his family and how his parents and grandparents escaped, knowing they might never be able to return but longing to go back but making sure to pass on their pride in their culture and heritage.

One thing was sure, Cubans are strong people.

"It's a pretty song," Noah commented.

Olivia nodded in agreement. "El tiene razón. It's quite moving, especially considering -" She gave a bit of a shrug. (He's right.)

His mother gave who'd been singing along softly gave Olivia a bittersweet smile. "It definitely is, Mamita, I'll give you that."

"That's one song that never failed to make abuelita cry," Rafael said.

His aunt gave a weak chuckle. "Or me on occasion."

He gave his aunt a soft smile. "True." He opted to change the conversation to something a bit lighter. "¿Cuándo termina el tío el trabajo, Tía?" (When does uncle get off work, Aunt?)

"Richi debería estar aquí pronto," his aunt replied. (Richi should be here soon.)

"Fue a hacer algo con mi niño después de pasar por el taller," Camila explained. Rafael nodded. "¿Cuca, te importa si me sirve otro café?" (He went to do something with my son after stopping by the garage. Cuca, do you mind if I grab myself some more coffee?)

His aunt waved the comment off. "Sabes que no. No hagas preguntas tontas, Cami. En realidad, agradecería que hicieras dos." (You know I don't. Don't ask silly questions, Cami. In fact, I'd appreciate it if you made that two.)

"Y también tomaré uno, por favor," he said, "si no te importa." (And I'll take one too, please, if you don't mind.)

Camila snorted. "We spoil you, Papito. Honestamente."

Noah snickered at that, causing Rafael to roll his eyes slight harder than maybe needed to make his point. "Lo aprecio, Cami." (I appreciate it, Cami.)

"If you're too nice to him, I'm going to have a hard time getting him to leave," Liv quipped. "I _would_ like to continue seeing my husband after this trip."

Rafael waved it off, grinning. "Left you once, and trust me, Cariño, I am not stupid enough to do that again. You're stuck with me, esposa mía."

She gave him a quick kiss. "Perfecto."

"¡Guácala!" Noah whined, causing the adults to chuckle. "¡Qué asco!" (Ew! Gross!)

They sat around chatting for a while, passing Sofía around a bit, before Ricardo and the nephew, Javier, finally arrived. Camila's husband, daughter, and other son - Eduardo, Isabel, and Antonio Torres - arriving not long after.

With everyone there, Olivia gave Sofía a bottle of formula and then they all went to sit down for lunch. Medianoches with plantain chips, Materva and coffee to drink, and flan for dessert.

After lunch, his mother stayed back to visit longer with her sister and everyone, while the Barba-Benson clan finally checked in and dropped their stuff off at the hotel.

Rafael then took Olivia, Noah, and Sofía to Calle Ocho, otherwise known as Little Havana, for the first time.

They walked through Domino Park and made their way to the Cuban Memorial Boulevard, which paid homage to Cuban soldiers who fought in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban War of Independence.

There was a string of seven small monuments scattered throughout this stretch of road, including those honouring Cuban independence fighter Antonio Maceo Grajales and anti-communist crusader Tony Izquierdo.

Both Olivia and Noah had a fair amount of questions, which he answered to the best of his ability, although he wouldn't consider himself an expert.

After checking out the statue of the Virgin Mary they made their way to the 16-foot raised map of the island of Cuba. There was an inscription on it by patriot José Martí that read, "_La patria es agonia y deber._"

"The homeland is agony and duty," Olivia translated. "Oddly fitting."

"Indeed."

Noah gave him an inquisitive look. "¿La patria?"

"A homeland is the country where a group originally comes from, or where a person was born. Their heritage," Rafael explained without missing a beat. "Cuba, en este caso. ¿Entiendes, Mijo?" (Cuba, in this case. Understand, Mijo?)

The seven-year-old nodded in understanding. "Oh, ok. Creo que lo entiendo." (I think I've got it.)

They walked around a bit more before heading to the Bayside Marketplace to look around and buy a couple of things before heading to the Miami Children's Museum, which Noah thoroughly enjoyed.

They then headed back to Little Havana - where they were meeting his mother, aunt, and uncle for dinner at Versailles - and checked out the vibrant mural painted outside of the Cafeteria Guardabarranco, which Noah loved.

They checked out Plaza de la Cubanidad, and then, while they were walking around once more, the young boy's attention was pulled towards a shop that didn't particularly surprise either him or Olivia: _Azúcar Ice Cream Company._

The boy looked at both of them. "Can we get ice cream? We're right by the shop."

"Before dinner?" Olivia asked.

Noah nodded eagerly. "I won't have dessert after."

Olivia lightly sighed. "Not today, Sweetie. Maybe tomorrow."

The boy pouted, turning to Rafael.

"Estoy completamente de acuerdo con tu mamá." He ruffled the boy's hair fondly. "Nice try though, cheeky boy." (I completely agree with your mom.)


	102. Chapter 102

Waking up a bit earlier than everyone else, Rafael showered and threw on a light blue, linen, short-sleeve shirt and a pair of off-white shorts.

He then snuck out to grab some basic things for breakfast, before running back to the house. He brought some cereal out for Noah and some applesauce for Sofía, heating up a bottle of formula as well for the infant, and made some café con leche y pan cubano con mantequilla for himself and Olivia.

He read the newspaper, over a cup of coffee, chatting with Liv intermittently, who was playing calmly with Sofia who was just as fond of her glasses as Rafael's.

_**School hours may be changing in Miami-Dade. Tell us how it would impact your life.**_

_Worse traffic. Better sleep. No more waiting for the school bus in the dark._

_Wherever you stand, changing when kids go to and get picked up from school could impact everyone in Miami-Dade._

_Let's get caught up to speed. No official changes were made yet, but the Miami-Dade School Board voted this week to look at later start times — and, therefore, end times — for all public schools beginning next academic year. The goal, though, would be to ensure no student has to come to class before 8 a.m. Sounds great, right?_

_Not exactly. Social media was full of reactions to the news, negative and positive, with those against a time change arguing it would greatly increase traffic in the mornings when kids are dropped off and in the afternoon when kids are picked up. Some advocates of the change argued their kid wouldn't have to stand out when it's dark in the early morning hours waiting for the school bus._

He rolled his eyes, ignoring the rest of the article, and flipped through to see if anything else in the Miami Herald was worth a read.

She looked up from what she was doing. "Anything interesting?"

"Oh, I don't know," he drawled. "An article about potentially changing school hours, then there's one about trump, and another on how to stave off holiday weight gain."

She gave him a pointed look, readjusting her own glass. "Lovely."

He rolled his eyes. "That's one word for it."

A while later, Olivia got the kids dressed and ready, and once everyone had eaten, they headed to St. Jude's for mass with his relatives and quite a few of Ricardo's.

His aunt had rather insisted, and so they found themselves in attendance, which wasn't that big of a deal to begin with, seeing as it wasn't as though Rafael didn't attend regularly as is.

Olivia didn't go all the time but, she'd join normally join him and Noah about once a month. She wasn't opposed to religion at all really but had struggled slightly over the years given the things she saw at work.

Afterwards, Olivia played with the kids in the backyard while Rafael snuck out to do some actual, albeit light, grocery shopping while the kids were occupied.

They hung out around the house for a bit. They needed some time to just relax, watching TV and reading, before sitting down to lunch Rafael made rice with fried eggs and a side of fried sweet plantains and brought out a bottle of materva to drink, although he threw a fresh pot of coffee on as well. He'd also made a small thing of fufú for Noah to try as he was making plantains already.

After lunch, they met up with Rafael's mother, aunt and Ricardo opting to visit Zoo Miami, grabbing ice cream on the way, as promised to Noah. The seven-year-old's favourite animals were the meerkats, and even Sofía was enjoying herself, just looking around contentedly every which way, occasionally cooing.

They walked around until just before five when the zoo closed and then they all decided to walk down Miami Beach Boardwalk for a while, given how nice out it was, before eventually going their separate ways, although his mother opted to have dinner with them and go back to Kendall later. _Santa Isabel de las Lajas_ playing softly in the background while Rafael helped his mother make dinner; enchilado de camarones with rice and tostones.

They were cleaning up the mess when Caballo Viejo, a song that came with more than a few memories for him by Roberto Torres, came on. He looked over at his mother in between drying the dishes she was passing to him. He took a shaky breath, causing her to look at him with slight concern. She didn't push it, however, just letting him speak on his own. He was trying to find the words to start a long-overdo conversation. "Sabes, siempre me acuerdo de esta canción sonando y cómo sin falta tú y Papá empezaban a bailar." (You know, I always remember this song playing and how, without fail, you and Papá would start dancing.)

She looked at him, not entirely sure where the conversation was going. "Sí. Fue una de sus canciones favoritas." (Yes. It was one of his favourite songs.)

He nodded slightly, a bittersweet smile gracing his lips. "Lo sé. El tuyo tambien." (I know. Yours as well.)

She tilted her head in a half-nod. "Tu papá no fue del todo malo, Rafi," his mother said after a moment. "Fue un hombre realmente bueno una vez. La adicción es... complicada. Sé que te lastimó mucho, y por eso, lo siento más de lo que crees. Debería haberte protegido mejor." (Yes. Your dad was not all bad, Rafi. He was a truly good man once. Addiction is ... complicated. I know he hurt you a lot, and for of that, I'm sorrier than you know. I should have protected you better.)

"Coño." Rafael gave a weak laugh. "Es lo que hizo que doliera más. Hubo esos momentos donde él estaba... él mismo... y..." He wrung his hands. "Lo racionalizo diciendo que Papá es simplemente un comemierda y luego sería realmente agradable, y luego, la próxima vez que estuviera de mal humor señalaría todo lo que estaba mal, fue mi culpa. Siempre fue mi culpa." (That's what made it hurt worse. There were these moments where he was... himself... and... I would rationalize it as Papá just being an asshole and then he'd be really nice, and then, the next time he was in a bad mood, he would point out how everything wrong was my fault. It was always my fault.)

She sighed. "Lo sé, Mijo." (I know, Mijo.)

He forced a neutral expression on his face that was perfected through many years in the courtroom. "Y yo lo creí." He looked at her. "Durante mucho tiempo lo creí. Y luego me detuve y simplemente estaba enojado. Muy enojado. Odiaba a Papá." (And I believed it. For a long time, I believed it. And then I stopped and I was just angry. Very angry. I hated Papá.)

"¿Y?" (And?)

He was done being angry and holding grudges, especially against a man who had been dead now for going on twenty years.

He gave her a hesitant smile, walking over and turned up the song.


	103. Chapter 103

The next day and a bit passed rather quickly but were nice. A bit warmer than previous days, which was a pleasant surprise, not that they'd been particularly cold. He threw on a white, linen, shirt and a pair of dark blue shorts. After making pancakes and doing some finger painting with Noah, they'd met his mother, aunt, and Ricardo at Jungle Island, spending close to three hours there, just taking in the park as well as taking in several of the little shows that they had going on. Noah just fascinated by the entire thing, as suspected, although he was far from the only one. Everyone had enjoyed it.

They'd then all stopped by an Italian restaurant for lunch, before eventually making their way to Miami Beach, bringing some snacks for later, where they'd then spent the rest of the day, relaxing, listening to a lot of fairly loud music, dancing, swimming and simply enjoying the sun.

Olivia had gotten slightly burned, but not too bad thanks to a ridiculous amount of sunscreen, and Noah, who had already started to get a bit of a light burn in previous days, had been better about moisturizing than Olivia had, given she was occupied with making sure Sofía wasn't overheating and reapplying sunscreen constantly, and definitely had a tan forming come the end of the day. Noah was rather amused, giving Olivia a bit of a hard time, good-naturedly, although Liv would probably have a decent base tan by the end of the trip as well.

Rafael's mother definitely had a tan, and Rafael did as well, his tía and tío teasing them both about finally getting some colour again. Rafael might have been a bit paler than the rest of the family, but he was rapidly catching up after the last couple of days being spent out in the sun.

It was a common way to tease Rafael and had nothing to do with his actual colouring. He'd been far from the best dancer as a kid when just starting to learn, and his abuela had poked fun then as well. "Niño, parece que eres blanco. Dale, chico! Muévete al ritmo." (Child, it seems like you're white. Come on, boy! Move to the beat.)

Cubans definitely took their dancing seriously, and Rafael wouldn't have it any other way. As the exiles had had to leave so much behind, he found it was the music, the stories, and those tiny little momentos that shaped a life, filling his life with everything that he took about what it meant to be a Cuban kid or Cuban-American kid.

He'd heard these silly comments more than a few times over the years, so just rolled his eyes, said a cheeky reply that earned him a playful swat on the arm from his aunt, and went back to the sandcastle he was making with Noah, while Olivia was playing with Sofia who was smiling and babbling.

They went swimming again for a bit and then went back to the beach. They were sitting around, chatting, when he heard his mother and aunt playing with Noah and his mother singing something he hadn't heard in a long time. "Coge tu sombrero y póntelo, vamos a la playa calienta el sol. chiviriviri popopompom."

He just listened, a wave of nostalgia hitting him. He hadn't heard that song since he was a kid, and it definitely brought back more than a few memories.

When they'd finally gone home it had been shower time and an easy dinner, deciding it was a movie night. sprawled out on the couch, Sofia fell asleep on Rafael's chest and Noah snuggled up with Olivia.

The next day, they woke up, and Rafael showered, throwing on a pink t-shirt and black shorts before heading to the kitchen to make breakfast: bacon, eggs, and toast. While he was doing that, Olivia changed Sofia and got her dressed. They relaxed around the house some, letting Noah watch an episode of a show he liked, before they headed out, going to Little Havana. They met his mother there, and they checked out the art studio there and walked around Calle Ocho some more before stopping for lunch at a café. Much to his amusement, one of his mother's favourite songs was playing in the background, and she wasted no time in starting to dance the Cha-Cha-Cha.

"¡Qué sonso eres, Abuelita!" Noah quipped, joining in. (You're so silly, Abuelita!)

"¡Apenas!" came the woman's reply. "Esta es una buena canción." (Hardly! This is a good song.)

Rafael, not missing a beat, pulled out his phone, recording a video of it, Olivia doing the same without even realizing it.

They got back to Kendall and started helping clean up, his aunt quickly putting on Eddie Santiago and Frankie Ruiz while they did so, simultaneously dancing while she swept, his mother joining in. Sofía safely in her playpan.

Rafael gave them an amused look.

"Papito," his aunt said, "hazte útil. Vea buscar un poco de desinfectante y comienza a limpiar las cosas." (Papito, make yourself useful. Go get some disinfectant and start wiping things down.)

"Okay," he said, running to grab some creolina.

It took some time, but with the cleaning finally done they all changed into some fresh clothes; Rafael and Noah putting on white guayaberas and khaki dress pants, throwing Sofía into her pink guayabera dress, and Liv throwing on one of her favourite cocktail dresses and heals. Their son also opted to wear his fedora hat and sneakers, while Rafael put on a pair of tan dress shoes.

Rafael made a call back home to Cuba, and they all talked with Ernesto and the other relatives back in Santa Clara.

They then sat around the living room for a while, chatting over coffee, as the song Noche de Paz started playing in the background.

When the party finally started, Noah had been a little stunned, at first, by the sheer amount of people that were in the house. There were about twenty-eight of them there for Christmas Eve. dinner. Everyone was running on Cuban time, though, so even though the party technically started at five, most guests started sauntering in between 6 and 6:30, in an entirely predictable fashion.

Señora Torres, Camilla's mother-in-law, was cooking away in the kitchen with Camilla and his tía Claudia, Rafael's mother going in and out of the kitchen giving them an extra hand when they needed it. They had their hands full, making black beans with rice, yucca with garlic mojo, a green salad with tomatoes and avocado, pastelitos, tostones, along with a side of pan cubano. They were also making some buñuelos, merenguitos, turrones, cake de ron, and, naturally, Natilla, for dessert. That was along with having soft drinks and crema de vie, among other things, to drink. Then, of course, there was the lechón asado which Rafael and Ricardo kept an eye on under Señor Alvarez's enthusiastic supervision.

Croquetas and empanadas were brought out for a bit of a snack given the lechón wouldn't be done for quite a while yet. Olivia caught his attention as he took a bite of one, giving Noah one before gently shooing the boy away. "Ve a jugar con tu pequeño grupo de amigos de allí, hum." (Go play with your little group of friends over there, hmm.)

Noah gave an amused roll of the eyes, before running off.

"I can't hear myself talking over the thumping music and dull roar of everyone's competing voices," Olivia said with an indulgent smile.

"I know," he quipped, grinning. It was still hard not having Abuelita around for the holidays, but he was really trying to be happy, knowing the last thing Catalina Díaz would want is her family feeling sorry for themselves. "Cubans. That's when we really know we're home."


	104. Chapter 104

_'That's when we really know we're home.'_ Wasn't that the truth. He listened to the new song starting to play: _El Manicero_. Smiling, he pulled Olivia in for a dance, relaxing as they both started moving to the beat, only taking a break to grab a drink after they'd danced the bachata, and merengue, getting dragged into dancing salsa casino style.

Olivia laughed fully, walking with him to the drink table afterwards. "Well, that was certainly something."

"That's one way to put it," he quipped. He passed her one of the glasses he'd just poured, taking a sip of his own. "See, I told you I'd make a good dancer out of you yet."

She slapped him across the arm playfully. "Ass. Why do I love you?"

He grinned, pulling her in for a kiss. "I'd say it's because of my immeasurable wit, but I think it might be the suspenders."

"Obviously, you're right." She looked serious for a moment, before bursting out into a fit of laughter. "Te quiero, mi esposo loco." (I love you, my crazy husband.)

"Y yo te quiero también, mi vida." Grinning, he pulled her in for another kiss. "Para siempre." (And I love you too, mi vida. Always.)

They stood around some chatting, and then were interrupted by Ricardo's mother, Juana Alvarez who was honestly a bit of a busybody, but super sweet. She wasted no time in pulling Olivia into her own version of twenty-questions and having a fair few for Rafael as well. It was a testament to how far Olivia's language skills had come that she handled the conversation effortlessly with the elder, monolingual woman.

"Noah parece un niño muy bueno y Sofía es simplemente preciosa, Mamita," Señora Alvarez said, turning to Olivia. "¿Espero que tu familia esté disfrutando de Miami?" (Noah seems like a good kid, and Sofía is simply precious, Mamita. I hope your family is enjoying Miami?)

"Gracias, y nos gusta mucho," Olivia replied easily. "Aquí es absolutamente hermoso y, afortunadamente, Rafael conoce la ciudad razonablemente bien." (Thanks, and we like it a lot. It's absolutely gorgeous here, and, thankfully, Rafael knows the city reasonably well.)

"No tan bien como pude, pero de todos modos, es un gran cambio con respecto al invierno de Nueva York," Rafael said. "Creo que vamos a extrañar el sol una vez que volvamos al clima de 39 grados." (Not as well as I could, but regardless, it's a big change from a New York winter. I think we'll miss the sun once we go back to the 39-degree weather.)

"Oh, sé que lo haré," Olivia said. (Oh, I know I will.)

"Tu esposo fue de gran ayuda cuando vivía aquí con renovaciones y otros trabajos en la casa," the elderly woman said. "Nos entristeció verlo irse, pero parece que regresar a Nueva York ha sido bueno para él. Me alegra verlos a ambos tan felices." (Your husband was very helpful when he lived here with renovations and other jobs around the house. We were sad to see him leave, but it seems that returning to New York has been good for him. I'm glad to see you both so happy.)

Rafael could feel the blood rush to his face, but smiled warmly, looking between both women. "No cambiaría casarme con esta mujer por nada, incluso si ella me da canas." (I wouldn't trade marrying this woman for anything, even if she does give me grey hair.)

"¡No me culpes!" Olivia deadpanned, giving Rafael a look somewhere between extreme amusement and feigned pity. "Simplemente te estás haciendo viejo, esposo mío." (Don't blame me! You're just getting old, husband of mine.)

Señora Alvarez chuckled. "Elle me cae bien, Papito." (I like her, Papito.)

He had a pleased looked mixed with more than a little amusement. "Yo también la aprecio mucho, Mima." (I'm rather fond of her myself, Gran.)

Olivia swatted his arm gently, her brown eyes twinkling with amusement. "¡Será mejor que lo seas, Rafa!" (You'd better be, Rafa!)

He grinned, giving her a kiss on the forehead, and placing their drinks of the table a few feet away as _Quimbara_ started playing, pulling her in for another dance.

Not long after Rafael got sent to check on the lechón again and both him and Olivia got pulled into a rather animated conversation with some of the people outside who were watching the kids running around playing tag and soccer and just generally having a good time.

Olivia fed Sofía and then Rafael went to put her to bed in her playpen set up in his mother's room for the evening.

More than a couple of the kids had been getting anxious to eat, Noah among them, but it wasn't long after that when they were actually sitting down for dinner, everyone saying grace beforehand.

Dinner had been phenomenal, as expected, and once everyone had eaten their fill, the kids went back to running around, and some of the adults brought out cards and dominos, someone also opting to put a bolero on and start getting sentimental.

Camilla and Señora Torres turned into grade-A food pushers, which was typical. Thankfully, his mother hadn't been that bad at the beginning of his and Olivia's relationship and had backed off. Olivia had eaten a fair amount on her own, but as soon as she was out of earshot, they'd both subjected Rafael to the Spanish inquisition. "What's the matter? Didn't she like the food? She didn't seem to eat much. Does she just not like to eat?"

He rolled his eyes, gave a quick comment in response, and went to find Olivia who had ever so kindly when to grab them each a glass of Crema de Vie.

They were asked a bit about New York and their life, especially Olivia who most of the people there had never met before, and then Señor Alvarez and Ricardo brought out their guitars and his mother sat down at the piano. The group started playing and singing some of their favourite songs from 'the good old days.'

They'd sung a couple of songs before getting other people to join in. Rafael had figured he'd get away with not singing, but that wasn't the case. José 'Pepe' Alvarez was definitely looking right at him. "Rafi, eres un cantante tremendo, y aún no has cantado. ¿Por qué no eliges una canción?" (Rafi, you're a tremendous singer, and you haven't sung yet. Why don't you pick a song?)

He looked at the other man, not really feeling like singing in front of all these people. "Deja que alguien más cante." (Let someone else sing.)

There were several comments from people saying he should do it, and Olivia was now nudging him. Great.

The man was almost as stubborn as Rafael, if not more so, which meant Rafael had a pretty good idea he was going to end up giving in. If only not to spoil things for everyone else. The elder man gave Rafael a pointed look. "Papito."

He gave a halfhearted glare. "Abue, no -" (Gramps, don't -)

Rafael's mother gave a little snort, turning to look at her son with fond exasperation. "¿Realmente vas a discutir, Mijo?" (Are you really going to argue, Mijo?)

He gave a soft sigh, and was about to speak, but was beaten to it. "O eliges la canción o yo lo haré," Señor Alvarez said. (Pick the song or I will.)

Rafael rolled his eyes, not really upset. He racked his brain for a good song before settling on one: _El Reloj._

He headed upfront of the group, taking a seat near his mother, and letting her know what song to play. She just smirked back at him.

Not being one to actually have bad stage fright, especially given his job, he just casually sat down and started singing. Quite a few more people, a couple of kids included, moved in closer to listen in.

Olivia quickly had her phone out, recording it. She rarely heard him sing, although he'd dance around, but she loved hearing him sing the few times she'd had a chance. She also intended to send it to the squad, because none of them had ever heard Rafael sing, even once. And that was with them trying to get him to do karaoke on more than one occasion. And when he sang he put his full body into it, not the least bit idle. The gestures and way he moved where beyond intriguing.

_'Reloj no marques las horas_  
_porque voy a enloquecer_  
_ella se irá para siempre_  
_cuando amanezca otra vez'_

He felt pleased when he saw Olivia beaming up at him, the phone she was holding not escaping his notice in the slightest.

_'Nomás nos queda esta noche_  
_para vivir nuestro amor_  
_y tu tic-tac me recuerda_  
_mi irremediable dolor_

_Reloj detén tu camino_  
_porque mi vida se apaga_  
_ella es la estrella_  
_que alumbra mi ser_  
_yo sin su amor no soy nada_

_Detén el tiempo en tus manos_  
_haz esta noche perpetua_  
_para que nunca se vaya de mí_  
_para que nunca amanezca.'_

Finishing the song, several people nudging him to go again, Rafael had a grin on his face and didn't put up much of a fight as he ended up singing '_Como Arrullo de Palmas_' which was another song he was fond of.

Eventually, he took his seat back beside Olivia, and chatted and sang along with everyone else, before it was finally time for everyone to go their separate ways and head to Midnight Mass, young kids on a sugar high included.


	105. Chapter 105

Midnight Mass was quite beautiful, but Noah was exhausted by the time they got back to the house, so Rafael carried the sleeping boy in from the car, putting him in bed as is, gently covering him with a blanket so as to not wake the boy, while Olivia dealt with Sofía who was tired from being passed around quite a bit and needed to be changed.

They slept in as much as having two kids to look after allowed them, and, after throwing on a mint crew-neck t-shirt and olive shorts, Rafael made a big breakfast for everyone while Noah dug through the stocking he had which was filled with some chocolates and small toys.

They made him wait until after breakfast to open the bigger gift. A waterproof kids camera that the boy had mentioned wanting.

The boy thanked them, giving both Rafael and Olivia hugs. "Now I can take lots of pictures of our trip!"

Olivia ruffled the boy's hair. "You certainly can, and I'll help you transfer them to the Ipad or my laptop so we can print a couple of them off when we get back home."

Rafael raised an eyebrow. "But we don't touch the laptops without mom or I's permission. That rule still stands, ok? Your iPad's fine, however." It didn't have any inappropriate content on it and didn't have internet access, unlike the laptops. It just had a couple of games and some shows. They kept an eye on its use anyway, but it was more of a question of how much time he spent on it than anything. "Just be respectful when taking photos."

"Why?" Noah asked.

"Some people might not like it, Sweetie," Olivia explained. "Not everybody likes their picture being taken or they might think a particular photo is embarrassing. Understand?"

Noah nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh. I promise to be careful."

Rafael smiled. "Thank you."

While Noah ran off to take some photos with his new camera, Olivia and Rafael ran around quickly, intending to exchange their own gifts.

Not nervous in the slightest, he passed Olivia a small purple package with yellow stars and a red bow. "Merry Christmas."

She gently opened the package, more than pleased when she saw what was inside. A silver infinity necklace with '_Amor Vincit Omnia_' engraved on it.

She was buzzing with happiness. "Love Conquers All Things." She shook her head. "You really have become a sap, husband of mine." She gestured to him, and he immediately moved to help her put it on. "Thank you, Love."

His cheeks dimpled, and the corners of his eyes wrinkled. "You're welcome, cheeky wife of mine."

She gave him a gentle nudge. "Well, open yours."

He shook his head, his eyes sparkling with mirth. he undid the red bow and ripped off the gold wrapping paper covering the box. It was a black, leather, Montblanc organizer with a pair of penguin socks. His laugh floated through the air like a melody as he glanced at the socks. "They're perfect. Thank you, Cariño. Honestly."

"I had to," she quipped. "They're just so... you... in an odd sort of way."

He gave a snort. "You know how we talked about us bickering until we're 85?"

She nodded. "Yes."

He leaned in and kissed her cheek, taking her hand in his. "I want an extension."

A soft smile graced her lips as she pulled him in for a deep kiss, the pair only breaking apart moments later for air. "Wouldn't that be nice?"

They spent some time relaxing around the house, before heading to his aunt's for lunch, mostly consisting of leftovers, a couple of other guests joining them as well.

It was nice, but the bit calmer atmosphere allowed Rafael to go down the road of nostalgia a bit, thinking of the holidays growing up. He'd long since accepted and dealt with his grandmother and grandfather's passing, but every once in a while it stung knowing that his grandmother wasn't there to smile, hug him, and call him _'El Juez._'

She really had been an incredible woman.

While three kids were running around the backyard and the adults were all reminiscing about the good old days, Rafael opted to make a short escape.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Olivia asked, joining him in the kitchen where he was currently grabbing himself another drink.

He looked over at her, taking a sip of his drink before speaking. "It's been several years now, but it's still weird not having my grandmother here. Christmas was Abuelita's favourite holiday. Easily."

"You still miss her?" It wasn't really a question.

He nodded. "Every single day." He smiled warmly, yet his shone with unspoken emotion. "You know, I used to love to climb into cardboard boxes." Olivia chuckled. "I couldn't tell you why, but I did. So, after I would climb in one, Abuelita would push me around the living room like it was a race car. We would do this for hours. I couldn't get enough." He shrugged. "I don't know how she never got tired."

"She sounds like quite the woman."

He nodded. "She was." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Abuelita always made you feel like she had been waiting to see just you all day and now the day was complete. My grandfather was no different, actually. He got us up early, otherwise, we might miss something. Sunsets, he loved 'em. Made me love 'em."

She nodded. "My mother was the same way with sunsets when I was younger. She really was brilliant for all her faults."

He nodded. "I can imagine. She was a professor, right?"

"Yes," Olivia replied. "She was an English professor at Hudson University, and absolutely loved history and literature. If you could get her to sit down, sober, and talk, you could have some seriously Insightful conversations."

He raised an eyebrow. "Not unlike her daughter."

Olivia gave him a bittersweet smile. "The one thing dear mom passed down to me, a fondness for the classics." She looked at him. "Your grandma taught you to cook, yes? Or was it your mom?"

"Both, but a lot of it was my grandmother. Learning to cook from her was interesting, to say the least," he stated, chuckling softly. "Abuelita, how do you make this?" He imitated his grandmother slightly. "Así. Como esto, y así." He made a vague gesture, clearly amused. "Alright, Grandma, I don't know what that is, but sure."

She threw back her head and let out a loud, boisterous laugh. "You realize you do the same thing to Noah, right?"

He gave a loud snort. "Hey, if it works-"

She rolled her eyes. "Never change, Rafa. Never change."

He kissed her on the forehead. "Let's go join the others."


	106. Chapter 106

The next week passed quite quickly. Rafael had a couple of work calls he had to deal with, but nothing major, and were honestly a waste of his time, much to his slight irritation. It was what it was, however.

When they weren't at the beach or Rafael's aunt's, they were at the Miami Seaquarium, the Museum of Science, the Wynwood Arts District, or Coconut Grove.

They visited Calle Ocho a few more times as well for a bit of a walk, and to get some ice cream, because why not, honestly.

He and Olivia shared a look, however, when Noah said he really like it in Miami and wanted to stay there.

"Wouldn't you miss your friends?" Olivia questioned, amused.

"Yes," Noah said, "but we can always visit."

Rafael rolled his eyes. "Let's just get through the trip, hmmm?"

"Ok, Papi."

That Saturday evening they actually left the kids with his mother for a couple of hours while they caught a show. They felt kind of bad because it was his mother's vacation too, but she was... her. Chin up, she looked right at her son. "I offered, so stop with the nonsense and go spend some time with your wife while I do some shameless spoiling." A vague gesture. "Los nietos will be perfectly fine."

He shook his head, an amused smile on his lips. "Los niños are not the ones I'm worried about." He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

She waved his comment off, a twinkle in her eyes saying she knew she'd already won the argument. "No hagas preguntas tontas." (Don't ask stupid questions.)

And that was how they found themselves kicked out of the house for a couple of hours. He loved his mother, he really did. Even if she could occasionally be difficult, something he knew he'd definitely inherited. And the truth was, they had rather enjoy themselves. It had been nice.

Waking up on New Years Eve morning, he threw on a light blue guayabera and a pair of khaki pants and made pancakes for breakfast. It was a little colder than previous days, but not by much. Cleaning up the dishes, they relaxed around the house for a couple of hours, playing with the kids, before heading to his aunts, where they would be spending the day.

They had lunch and sat around chatting some before his aunt threw on some Frankie Ruiz they all set to work helping tidy up.

Eventually, he threw a Benny Moré song on, but he had to stifle a laugh as his mother spilled creolina on the floor, which set off a whole other concert in the house. She muttered something about 'la chancleta' under her breath, earning her a rather deliberate eye roll from Rafael.

He may have been glared at while he helped her clean up the rather large spill, but, honestly, people thought hewas dramatic.

She looked at him. "You're lucky I love you, hijo mío."

"Sorry, Mami," he said quickly, turning to face her as he spoke. "Y yo te quiero también. Tú lo sabes." (And I love you too. You know that.)

Everything cleaned up, they sat down for some coffee and chatted before Rafael went with Ricardo to start on the lechón asado they were making for the party that night.

With that done, he ran an errand for his aunt and then joined everyone back at the house, joining everyone in the living room.

His aunt, completely unsurprisingly, immediately hit him with a "Papito, ¿quieres un cafecito? ¿Y Mamita?" the second he walked through the front door. (Papito, do you want a coffee? And you, Mamita?)

Rafael didn't even hesitate. "¡Sí, por favor!" (Yes, please!)

"No ahora, gracias," came Olivia's reply. She then looked between his mother and him, amusement sparkling in her eyes. "At this point, I just assume this coffee addict's response is always going to be yes." (Not right now, thanks.)

His mother laughed. "Oh, yes. Something is very wrong if Rafael turns down a coffee. His father was the same way, actually. Coffee, bread, and crackers, and he's set."

Rafael smirked. "Café con leche y galleta de soda. An oddly delicious combination."

"I don't get how you can eat that," Olivia said, shaking her head, as she continued playing with Sofía on her lap.

He waved the comment off, amused. "That's why I don't make it for you."

She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, Abuelita," Noah chimed in. "Did I tell you about the Seaquarium?"

Lucía Barba turned to face the young boy. "I don't believe you have, Chiquito," she replied. "Why don't you tell me all about it?"

"And Coconut Grove," Olivia suggested. "You liked that too."

"It was fun," Rafael agreed. "You really should."

"Oh yeah!" Noah said excitedly. "Well, we went -" And off the boy went telling the story, the adults listening attentively.

The rest of the afternoon passed in much the same way, although Olivia put Sofia down for another nap as she was getting fussy. Eventually, Ricardo joined them, and two of the neighbour's kids came over to play with Noah for a while.

His paternal uncle stopping by for a visit had surprised Rafael some, but everyone was civil and he seemed to actually try and respect Rafael's boundaries, which was nice. To be fair, Rafael wanted to fix whatever wedge had come between them but wasn't sure how. He tried though, actually making conversation with the older man, and making it clear to Mauricio that he was trying to extend an olive branch.

Rafael also explained a couple of the traditions to Olivia and Noah, much to their appreciation. Neither liked not knowing what was going on, which was entirely understandable.

"Why do you throw water out the window?" Noah asked.

"Superstitions," he explained. "The water is said to represent the negativity and bad omens of the passing year which is then thrown away out of the house."

"Huh," Noah said. "Odd."

Rafael couldn't argue with that, so just shrugged.

"I'm guessing eating the twelve grapes has something to do with superstition as well?" Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow.

He nodded. "When the countdown ends each grape is eaten, one after the other, to represent the twelve months of the new year, with a wish made per grape. When all twelve are eaten you wash it down with a glass of sidra." He made a vague gesture. "But, you have to do all this before the clock reaches 00:01am -"

"or you'll be facing bad luck for the rest of the year!" his mother chimed in, walking up to where they were. "We like our superstitions."

He chuckled. "Extremely accurate assessment, Mami." He pointed to one of the kids making silly faces in the doorway. "Mira. Tu amigo te está buscando." (Look. Your friend is looking for you.)

"Go play, Sweetie," Olivia said.

The boy immediately ran off, smiling, and shortly after six o'clock everyone finally trickled in, and the party got started.


	107. Chapter 107

The rest of the vacation seemed to fly by, and before they knew it, that Saturday arrived and they were cleaning the AirBNB, packing, saying goodbye to everyone, and making the trip back to New York. They flew to LaGuardia, catching a night o'clock flight out of Miami, which got them in NYC by noon, just in time for lunch.

Carisi had been kind enough to play Santa and make sure Noah's gifts from Father Christmas were under the tree for when they got home, excluding anything labeled otherwise, which Olivia and Rafael would put under the tree later.

Sunday was calmer, but was a bit of a catch up day in some regards. Still, they mostly hung around the house playing games and such. They had a few visitors in the afternoon who came for a visit and a few more gifts were exchanged, although they mostly took things easy that day, except for a brief shopping trip Rafael needed to do so that they actually had groceries; Olivia making a roast and potatoes for dinner, with some warm berry cobbler for dessert and several mugs of hot chocolate to go around.

They were chatting while eating and Noah decided to grace them with some odd jokes of his, that were weirdly amusing.

The young boy was particularly fond of one. "Why shouldn't you tell an egg a joke?"

"I don't know," Olivia said. "Why?"

"It might crack up," Noah said with a snicker, causing both adults to groan and laugh.

Rafael looked at Noah, smirking. "So, why was everyone in the kitchen upset with the sous chef?"

"He sued them?" Olivia guessed.

He shook his head, amused.

"Why were they upset?" Noah asked, grinning.

"Because he kept roasting everyone," Rafael said with a snicker.

Olivia shook her head, amused. "I don't know you two."

Noah laughed. "Oh, you love us." He turned to Rafael again. "What was the first thing Luke Skywalker said to the diners at his new restaurant?"

"What?" Rafael said indulgently, as he already knew the answer.

"May the forks be with you!"

Olivia rolled her eyes, and Rafael just chuckled before saying another joke. "What bummed out the shredder?"

"What?" Olivia drawled, much to Rafael's amusement.

He made a show of answering. "Not being grater!"

Olivia threw her face in her hands, laughing, as father and son high-fived rather enthusiastically. "I can't believe you're actually proud of that joke."

He smirked, but leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "That's the only way it works, Cariño mío."

When Monday finally came around, Noah woke them up early, excited to get to finally open his presents. Both adults shook their heads, amused, and quickly took a shower, telling Noah to get dressed and meet them in the living room.

Rafael quickly picked out one if his plainer suits. A plain white dress shirt, black suspenders and matching jacket, and a lilac tie and matching pocket square to complete the outfit. He checked his hair again, much to Olivia's amusement, and made his way out to the living room.

Noah excitedly opened his gifts and gave them both theirs. The gifts were crafts that he'd made in art class at school for them, which was really sweet. He'd done quite a good job, and the thought was definitely appreciated.

Olivia made pancakes for breakfast while Rafael helped Noah to put away all his toys, and changed Sofia before Olivia took Noah to school and Rafael ran to his office, needing to get into work as soon as possible, knowing he'd be working late otherwise.

"Well, you've certainly got some colour again!" Carmen said. "How was vacation?"

"It was nice," he said, giving her a warm smile. "How was yours?"

"Chaotic, but nice," she said. She passed him his schedule for the day, before going over a couple of the finer points.

Rafael spent the morning in several meetings regarding various cases of his that were still open and making sure he was up to date on everything else that was and had been going on. Unfortunately, one of his cases that Novak had taken to court had been lost, but everything else was well on track to where they needed to be.

He'd managed a quick working lunch before meeting with Casey Novak - who still has to be involved as co-counsel - and Rita Calhoun over a case, as apparently one of the witnesses for a case had disclosed something to Novak that morning which definitely helped the prosecution's case in more than one, although complicated things.

Rita had immediately requested a meeting, and she had been generous enough to suggest an actually decent offer. In the end, they'd actually agreed to consider it, telling her they'd have an answer by six o'clock that evening for her regarding the aforementioned deal.

Both Novak and him were actually considering taking it, because they didn't think the victim herself would hold up on the stand, but it was a hard call, given the otherwise strong case that was being built.

With that overwith, he'd poured himself another coffee, and started hitting the books, trying to look for legal precedent that would further help the case.

Eventually, he was called down to the 1-6 as they'd caught a case.

Leon Levac, 27, was facing two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference against a 14-year-old girl if Rafael got the indictment he wanted, which was rather likely.

The teen, Ashley Sinclair, alleged that she met Levac in the weight room at the West Side YMCA in October of 2019.

Levac allegedly approached her first to ask for her number. From there, the two started texting and messaging on social media. They also met up at the gym a few more times.

The teenager said she asked Levac to train her and didn't view their relationship as much more than that.

"She thought more about him as a trainer than anything else," Olivia had continued to explain. "That same month, she went to Levac's house twice, thinking they were just going to "hang out" as friends. Now she says that not once but both times she was there he carried her into his bedroom and had sex with her."

"She was too scared to fight back or say no," Rollins explained, making a vague gesture. "She thought he was going to hurt her. But she did say, _'I wanted him off. I wanted to go. I regretted it, but I didn't say anything._'"

"And this guy has a history of violent sexual assaults," Carisi added. "In November 2017, and advisory, warning the public that he was a high-risk re-offender, was issued."

"Saying?" Rafael inquired.

"The advisory stated he had never completed programming to address his risk factors while incarcerated and did not make any progress in reducing his risk to re-offend," Officer Tamin said. "Levac was bound by a number of conditions, including a curfew."

"- having no contact, either directly or indirectly, with any of his victims," Fin added. "But I doubt a guy like that would listen."

"Those conditions were still in effect during the time of the alleged assaults," Olivia explained to Rafael, "which prompted Levac to disclose his sexual assault history with the teenager apparently."

"So he's delusional and thought they were actually in some sort of relationship?" Rafael inquired, a clear note of disbelief in his voice.

Fin gave him a rather pointed look. "Like I said..."

He shook his head. "Ok, so the victim claims Levac told her he had been charged with three previous sexual assaults and had been to jail." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "And she still let herself be alone with him?"

Tamin shrugged. "She's trusting. She thought he'd changed."

He sighed. "This'll be a slice." He looked at all the detectives. "When this goes to court, the defence'll move to have Levac's history rendered inadmissible." He shook his head. "Weight of evidence is on our side, however."

The captain looked at him, nodding. "She's credible, Counsellor. I believe her. She's naive, but not malicious."

He nodded. "Statutory rape is a given here," he said. "Especially if we can get Levac to admit to any sexual contact whatsoever. However, I'd actually prefer to pursue different charges. This wasn't statutory. It was plain rape. Period." He looked at Tamin and Rollins. "Talk to her parents. Her teachers. I want it ascertained that this isn't some teen girl acting out, which is exactly what the defence will claim." He looked at Carisi and Fin. "Do me a favour and revet this guy, detectives. And if you can find me other victims, who are willing to talk, even better."

Olivia gave a look of mixed amusement and something else he couldn't quite place. "Well, what are you waiting for?" A soft chuckle. "You heard the guy." She gave a couple other directions to the detectives before they started to leave. Once everyone was done talking, she turned to Rafael. "Counsellor, walk you out?"

He nodded, readjusting his tie and throwing his camel-covered overcoat on. "By all means." He drank the last sip of his coffee. "Happy to be back yet?"

She gave a little snort. "Ecstatic."


	108. Chapter 108

Over the next few days, they were definitely kept busy. On top of several hearings, Rafael had a trial for a domestic violence case that had, unfortunately, gone south, and he'd lost when the victim herself had caved on the stand and lied. She's suddenly started defending her husband and saying it was a private matter and justifying everything. One of the few times he'd lost to Buchanan and it was definitely a bitter pill for him to swallow, as he knew the husband hadn't felt an ounce of remorse and was going to attack his wife again. He just hoped that she'd come to her senses before she ended up dead, like Micha Green had.

Sinclair's parents ended up being their own challenge, the father, in particular, acting overprotective and defensive. They had to repeatedly remind him to keep his temper in check as they were on the same side and that he needed to let them do their jobs and not jeopardize his daughter's case; that last part being what seemed to finally get through to him.

As for Levac, he quickly found himself charged with exactly what Rafael had intended. Multiple charges, definitely guaranteeing him some jail time.

The man had claimed that he didn't know the girl was underage. Tried to argue that the teen said that she was of age. Rafael just laughed at the legal aid attorney and told them they should do their job and inform their client that 'Mistake of Age' was _not _a legal defense in New York like in other states. Even if the man was telling the truth, which he wasn't.

They'd set up a meeting for right after lunch on thursday, given Rafael had several hearing and ither meetings to contend with that morning. Counsellor Marchand then tried to cut a deal, but it hadn't been a good one by any means. Still, Rafael decided to play nice. "I can take one count of Rape Two and one count of Criminal Sexual Act in the Second. Served consecutively."

"Make it Rape Three and all charges served concurrently."

Rafael raised an eyebrow. "Don't offend me," he sneered. "I'll see you in court."

"Get off your high horse, Barba."

Olivia raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing, knowing Rafael was more than capable of handling his own.

"You're client's a child rapist," Rafael retorted. "The jury'll love to hear all about that, and I have three other strong girls that will testify to the fact." He shot the legal aid attorney a pointed look. "My deal stands until six o'clock. Choose wisely." He gave the man his signature smirk. "Tick tock."

Marchand quickly made a retort. "I'll keep you informed. In the meantime, I hope your day is as pleasant as your personality."

Rafael was actually amused at that comment, in spite of himself. "I've been called worse things by better people." With that, he walked out, casually going to pour himself a fresh coffee while the legal aid attorney conferred with his client, his wife following not far behind.

Rollins walked up. "That was hardball."

He raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't playing."

The blonde detective gave him a very pointed look. "Yeah, I got that. Do you think he'll take the deal?"

He tilted his chin up and set his jaw, a slight shrug of the shoulders immediately following. "What's the opposite of no?"

Olivia looked over at him, having just finished pouring her own cup of coffee. "Well, you're certainly in a mood today."

"Hey, I don't sugar coat anything," he quipped. "I'm not a bakery."

"Well, bless you're heart," Rollins said, lips turning upwards.

He smirked. "Why, thank you."

The blonde detective rolled her eyes, to little response from Rafael, who merely finished his cup of coffee before making a teasing comment about Carisi, who was walking up with the others.

Fin made a comment about something or other, but Rafael wasn't listening as his phone went off. It was Carmen.

She immediately explained then call she'd just gotten, inquiring about him, that seemed a little similar to the earlier hangups he'd used to get.

If anyone noticed that some of the colour left Rafael's face, they didn't comment. Rafael used years of practice to force a neutral expression, trying to sound nonchalant. Partly for himself and partly for Carmen's as she was audibly worried. Freaking out didn't help anyone. "And this guy didn't leave a number?"

The squad were paying close attention now, however, as he replied to his assistant. "Okay, Carmen, thank you." He rubbed his face. "No, I'll be at the office in an hour."

He got off the phone to see them looking at him, but Olivia was the first one to speak. "Everything ok?"

"Yes," he said. "Nothing to be concerned about." A lie, but they had no proof anything was continuing yet, let alone who was behind in. He wanted to be sure before he worried everyone over a silly phone call. "Just about a meeting later on."

Olivia looked a bit doubtful, but clearly opted to give him the benefit of the doubt, for the time being, at least.

Fin, however, wasn't so inclined, and neither was Rollins. Still, he managed to appease them enough for them to drop it.

The second half of the day wasn't any less busy than the first half. By three o'clock, Rafael was back at his office, getting some work related to other cases done while he waited for his next meeting at four o'clock.

The witness he needed to meet with, to conduct a face-finding issue on the case, showed up late with the father and sister. She ended up recanting some testimony and the father wash pushing her not to testify. A case he was definitely now concerned about the strength of.

He was genuinely considering not taking it to trial. It was looking more and more like it wouldn't make it past a Grand Jury.

Marchand had contacted him shortly after, taking the deal that Rafael had offered, which was a relief. One mess dealt with and he didn't have to put a bunch of teenage girls on the stand to discuss being raped.

He then had to contact one of the court clerks regarding hearing status of various cases and talk with McCoy, updating the District Attorney.

He'd been reviewing documents for the Levac case shortly after six, and making sure everything was in order for a plea and sentencing hearing, when his phone sounded, letting him know he had a text.

Expecting it to be someone from SVU he picked the phone up, pushing down the slight apprehension that he felt given the earlier phone call. He'd done well at hiding it, but he'd felt sick to his stomach the better part of the year he was receiving those death threats, and now after one call that didn't necessarily mean anything, that feeling was back. He felt a wave of relief when he saw it was a text from Liv. _'Hey, Rafa. Late night or can you step away from those dusty pages for the night?'_

He quickly texted back._ 'I can step away. The dusty pages of legal precedent will still be there in the morning.'_

_'Perfect. How do you feel about meeting at Follia for dinner? Feeling like Italian tonight. You can blame it on the seven year old.'_

He chuckled softly as he typed a reply. _'Sure. __I'll see you soon, Cariño.'_


	109. Chapter 109

Dinner at Follia had been nice and was definitely a break that Rafael needed to take his mind off the stress from earlier. Sofía had been a little fussy, as she was now teething, but hadn't been too bad. She'd been more than happy to gnaw on a chilled teething ring. Noah was a little high strung at first, just being a kid, but calmed down quickly when talked to, so, all in all, it went smoothly.

When nothing happened over the next couple of days, Rafael put the strange call behind him, the paranoia fading almost completely.

Waking up, he showered and threw on a green checkered shirt and dark red coloured tie, walking out to everyone at the table already having breakfast.

His wife slid a cup of coffee over to him, and he smirked, taking a few sips before looking up and saying, "I love you."

She chuckled. "You're an easy man to bribe, husband of mine."

He rolled his eyes playfully, taking a sip of the warm liquid he was holding.

Noah looked at them both inquisitively. "What does bribe mean again?"

He smirked. "It means your mother knows there is very little I wouldn't do for a coffee first thing in the morning."

Olivia chuckled. "Accurate." She looked over at Noah. "Bribing someone is when you do something for someone to get them to do something you want."

Noah considered it a moment. "Okay."

They chatted briefly before Lucy got there and Rafael had to head to work for the day, leaving it to Olivia to drop Noah off at school.

The morning passed by quickly. Rafael had a lot of time to himself that morning to manage his files, which was a rare thing, so in between a meeting, some emails and phone calls, he spent the afternoon doing that, except for taking a break for lunch at Forlini's with Carisi to get an update on a case.

Rafael stopped halfway through the page he was currently reading, frowning at his phone, which was now going off, in slight confusion. Noah's school was calling for some reason. "Hello. Rafael Barba speaking."

"Mr. Barba," the vaguely familiar voice said, "I'm Susan Bernard from PS199. I'm calling in regards to your son Noah who's a student here."

Of course the phone call was about Noah, but what was going on? Rafael's mind was racing more than he'd like to admit. "What happened? Is he hurt? He's not in any trouble is he?" he inquired, already throwing his jacket on, and rummaging around for his keys, trying to make his way out the door as quickly as possible.

"I assure you, he's perfectly fine," the lady stated in what he supposed was meant to be a soothing voice, although it did little to help his nerves. "He fell down during lunch while playing soccer and injured his wrist. Nothing major, as it's likely just a sprain. However, the only classes he has left today are Physical Education and Art."

Rafael nodded more to himself than anything given that the woman couldn't see him. "And because of the injury, he can't participate properly."

"Exactly," came her response, "and he's been upset since; clearly wanting to go home. Our nurse is with him right now, giving him a new icepack. We tried your wife's phone but got no answer."

"Alright. I'll talk to her," he replied, feeling calmer than he had initially. "I'm on my way than to pick him up. I should be there in about a half-hour."

"Perfect," the secretary said. "We'll see you shortly."

Shaking his head, he realized he had an unread text from Lucy. He immediately pressed dial, calling her. "Hello, Lucy. I'm assuming you got the call from Noah's school as well?"

"I did," she said immediately, "but I just got the voice mail. I was giving Sofía a bath when they called, so I missed it by half a second. Do you want me to run and get him from school?"

"No, no," he said not unkindly. "I've got it. I want to take him to the doctors, and I'm not going to ask you to try and weather that with two cranky children."

"I could handle it," she said with a chuckle. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Rafael assured her. "It's likely just a simple sprain."

He politely ended the call and texted Olivia to let her know what was going on. Shoving his phone into his pocket, he locked his office and quickly stopped by Carmen's desk to talk to her. "Carmen, I need you to hold all my calls and cancel my two o'clock."

She gave him a look of concern. "Is everything alright?"

He gave her a small smile. "Yes, everything's fine, but I do have to go and deal with a family matter that just came up. If nothing comes up by three o'clock, feel free to go home for the day. I'll pay you for the rest of the original shift regardless."

She nodded. "I'll see you later then."

Walking outside briskly, he jumped into his car and made his way to Jessie Isador Straus. Once at the elementary school, he found parking easily and made his way to the office where Noah was waiting with the school secretary.

As he walked in, Noah rushed over and threw his arm around him, pulling him into a hug. "Papi, you're here!" The young boy gently nuzzled into Rafael's chest, clearly needing the contact. "¡Duele! Quiero ir a casa." (It hurts. I want to go home.)

Rafael smiled softly down at the young boy, trying to reassure him. "Lo sé, Mijo. I know. Es por eso que estoy aquí." (I know. That's why I'm here.)

The secretary seemed surprised at hearing the Spanish, but it was definitely more astonishment than anything. "Hispanic?"

Hearing that, he set his jaw, unsure of where the line of questioning was going. He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, however, tilting his head down in a half nod. "Yes. I'm Cuban, well Cuban-American."

She smiled softly. "I'm German-American, myself. More parents should teach their children their first language. It helps children develop an appreciation for other cultures, and I know I wish I could speak my parents' language better."

He nodded, smiling more warmly now. "My grandmother didn't speak English much until I was a teenager, and neither of my grandfathers ever did speak it. My parents and aunt spoke it fairly well, but Spanish was what was spoken at home. But, we should probably get going." He ruffled Noah's hair playfully. "¿Qué dices, Mijo? Pasemos por el médico y luego iremos a buscar chocolate caliente." (What do you say, Mijo? Let's stop by the doctor's and then we'll go get some hot chocolate.)

"Ok, Papi," Noah murmured softly, a small on his face. "¿Puedo obtener una galleta también? Please." (Can I get a cookie too?)

"Ya veremos," he said, ruffling the boy's hair again. "We'll see. Maybe if you' good, you little rascal." The teasing tone to his voice was unmistakable at the end. He turned to the secretary. "Thank you, and I hope your afternoon goes well."

"Yeah," Noah said. "Thank you."

She smiled down at Noah. "You're very welcome, Mr. Noah. I hope you're feeling better tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your day, the both of you."

With a slight nod, he picked up Noah's schoolbag and started walking him out to the car so they could get the trip to the doctor's over with.

Luckily, an hour and a half later they were making their way out of there, with Noah's injury being confirmed as a 'Grade I' sprain. Noah had been given a splint to support his wrist, and given some stretching and strengthening exercises to practice.

They stopped at a nearby café for a little snack before making their way home and getting Noah settled in and talking with Lucy. He then talked to Liv on the phone before giving the kids a kiss goodbye and running out the door to go back to work to try and get some stuff done for his cases.

He was walking into the doors of their home by five, and Noah was somewhat awkwardly playing Lego with his non-dominant hand in the living room with Lucy beside him, Sofía on her lap. "Papi!"

He smiled down at the boy. "Hola, Noah. Hi, Lucy." He looked over at the brunette girl who'd somehow become family. "So, how was your guys' afternoon?"

"Good, Rafael," she said. "Sofía was a lot less cranky after her nap, and Noah's been fine. We went for a bit of a walk, played a few games, and then I got talked into baking with the little rascal here. Chocolate chip cookies."

Noah grinned. "There may or may not have been flour everywhere."

Rafael laughed, hanging his jacket up. "Well, that certainly wouldn't be a first."

Noah giggled. "True, Señor Pancakes."

He rolled his eyes, starting to take off his shoes. "Hey, you were an equally guilty party in that chain of events, if I recall correctly."

His son smirked. "Prove it."

He laughed. "Cheeky kid."

He started to take a step towards them but Lucy gestured for him to stay put a moment, pointing to the squirmy little girl that was trying to get away from her, much to Lucy's amusement. She gently placed her on the floor and Sofía immediately started creeping and scooting around the floor contentedly to get to Rafael.

When Sofía reached him, she looked up and babbled, making it clear she wanted him to hold her. He bent down to pick her up. "Hola, Princesa," he murmured, smiling. "¿Te portaste bien con Lucy?" The little girl just coo-ed, snuggling into his shoulder slightly.

"She adores you," Lucy said, smiling. "And to think family services tried to give both you and Liv grief over the years."

He looked over at her. "I get it, but it was definitely irritating." He made a vague gesture. "You staying for dinner? Liv should be home in about a half-hour, last I talked to her." He was planning on making arroz con pollo; something a bit easier.

She smiled. "Rain check? I'm actually supposed to meet Toni's parents tonight." She'd been dating Antonio for quite a while now. He was a year older than her, they'd met through some mutual friends. By her account, he treated her well and he'd actually started his own business in Washington Heights that to all appearances was doing exceptionally well too.

"No worries. Enjoy yourself," he said earnestly, before adopting a teasing tone. "And don't let the loudmouth Latinas get to you."

She laughed. "Oh, I think I'll be fine." She looked him straight in the eye. I've actually signed up for the Spanish classes at Idlewild Books. I'm starting next week."

He nodded. That relationship was definitely getting serious now, which didn't particularly surprise him. "Well, if you want any help practicing, you know where I am."

"Appreciated," she said. "I also wanted to ask you and Liv about having him over for dinner sometime so you both can meet him."

"We'd love to have him over. Just let us know when works for the both of you," he said. He put Sofía down in her playpen, walking towards the kitchen. He glanced back at her, a smirk plastered firmly on his face. "¿Quieres un café, Mamita?"

She threw a hand up in the air, laughing. "Woah! Woah! I said, 'starting.'"

Noah giggled. "He's asking if you want a coffee."

She ruffled Noah's hair, still laughing. "Thank you, Noah." She looked back to Rafael, amused. "And I'd love one, gracias."

He gave a soft chuckle, replying without missing a beat. "Bueno, dos cafés por venir." (So, two coffees coming right up.)

She rolled her eyes, looking at Noah. "And this is why I am taking those Spanish classes. Crazy Latinos."

Rafael laughed. "I heard that, Missy!"

Noah giggled, and Lucy had a self-satisfied smile on her face. "You were supposed to!"


	110. Chapter 110

Waking up on Friday, he glanced over at Olivia and just starred. She was absolutely gorgeous and looked so peaceful. The sent of her shampoo flooded his nose. Filled with want, he leaned over and woke Olivia up with a gentle kiss.

She eyes fluttered open and she smiled, deepening the kiss immediately. Running her hand between his legs, teasing him. He'd already been hard when he kissed her.

"Liv." It came out as a murmer. He deepened the kiss again, sliding a hand under her night shirt, and she gently repositioned him on his back before moving to take off his boxers. He pushed himself up, letting her pull them down and off his legs, throwing them on the floor beside their bed.

They fooled around for a couple minutes, both now fully undressed, and he just looked up at her, smiling down at him, gently stroking him and rubbing her thumb over his smooth head. His hips jerked, and his wife just kept smiling down at him.

He let out a moan as she kissed him. She was way too good at playing the teasing game when she wanted to. "Liv, please -"

She kissed his neck this time. "How about we move this to the shower?"

"That sounds like a very good idea," he said as she let him get up, grabbing her ass he got up. He pulled her in for another kiss. "You're so beautiful." And another one. "Tan hermosa."

She smiled, amused. "Well, you certainly are trouble this morning."

He smirked, grabbing her by the hand to lead her to the bathroom. "Only because you keep teasing me."

She laughed. "I want to have some fun first."

He rolled his eyes.

Once in the shower she started making out with him again, teasing him. His knees buckled a couple of times. She looked him over. He was even more flushed than she was. His hands were roaming and the ministrations felt so good. She arched her back, pushing herself onto his tongue... Rafael moaned hungrily. "More."

She lined him up, and started riding him, enjoying the whimpers of pleasure that immediately followed. "Fuck, Liv!" he gasped.

He was intent on tasting every part of her, and Olivia couldn't stop the way she rutted against him, hands gripping his solid hips.

She paused, repositioning his hands, causing him to make a sound that was somewhere between a whimper and a moan. He tried to quicken the pace, but she moved deliberately. He was very quickly becoming unraveled, his whole body burning with need. She'd wrestled control away, and he was simply hanging on for the ride, enjoying every second of it.

She was smiling when Rafael finally came, panting, and feeling ridiculously sated in every possible way imaginable.

After the rather heated shower, they dried off and Rafael threw on dark grey suit of his pairing it with a blue and white checkered dress shirt, white suspenders, and a blue pocket square. He then poured himself a coffee and went and fed Sofía, Olivia dealing with Noah, before he sat down at the kitchen table. He wanted to have breakfast with them before he had to leave for court.

He had a hearing regarding a child molestation case. He'd turned down several plea offers before settling on corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor, and indecent assault of a person under thirteen years of age.

Part of the deal was Wright would be required to register his whereabouts with police, under Megan's Law, for the rest of his life and allocuting in court.

The six-year-old child had immediately reported the abuse and the man had later admitted, after failing a polygraph examination, that he had kissed the girl and inappropriately touched her.

Rafael looked up from his files. "Good morning, Judge Maskin."

"Mr. Barba," the judge deadpanned. "A pleasure as always."

He smirked. "Would it help if I promised not to get myself strangled this time?"

"You're creative enough to come up with a plethora of other stunts," she said, "but I'll hold you to that." She gestured for him to say his piece.

"With the Court's permission I am adding a case to the docket," he said. "The People of New York V. Branden Wright. That's W-R-I-G-H-T." He glanced down at the document in front of him. "Case number 001234567." He glanced back up at the judge. "Pursuant to a plea agreement the Defendant is to enter a plea agreement to one count of corruption of minors, one count of unlawful contact with a minor, and one count of indecent assault of a person under thirteen years of age, at this time. We wish to do an advisement of rights all the way up to the point where the Court can find knowing, would accept and the Court advise. At that point, I'm going to ask that it be set in for disposition sometime in March right now, but we want to make it clear for the record that the Defendant has fully entered his guilty plea. Everything. The only thing that remains after today's date is allocution at the time of disposition. We will also provide the written statement of facts for the Court to make a finding of guilty and sentence."

"Okay," the judge said, looking right at Rafael. "But, you want me to advise him and accept the plea today, is that correct?"

"Yes, Your Honour," Rafael said. "And we'll have an allocution and provide the written statement of facts at the time of disposition for the Court to enter a finding of guilty at that time. And be sentence pursuant to the plea agreement."

The judge nodded. "Alright."

"Good morning, Your Honour. Jake Nemeth on behalf of Mr. Wright."

The judge turned her attention to the defence attorney briefly. "And is that your understanding as well, Mr. Nemeth?"

The defence attorney tilted his head in a half-nod. "Yes, Ma'am, it is."

The judge looked towards the defendant. "Alright, Mr. Wright, would you raise your right hand, please?"

The defendant immediately did as asked.

"Thereupon," the clerk said, "Branden Wright, a defendant, being first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, was examined and testified as follows -" The clerk looked directly at Wright. "You may lower your hand. Please state your name and address."

And on and on the questions went, most of which where of zero importance to Rafael and, although they were very much needed for the record, mostly served to simply occupy Rafael's entire morning. Rafael was more than happy when court was over for the day, truth be told.

He gathered his things, and briefcase in hand made his way out of the courtroom, stopping in the hallway where he spoke briefly with Tamin and Carisi regarding an update on another case before making his way back to his office.

He dealt with a few work emails and a phone call with Rita Calhoun about setting up a meeting regarding on of the cases, and then headed to Forlini's for a bite to eat.

After lunch he had just enough time to go over the file he needed before his meeting with Calhoun, which lead to nothing more than Rafael gaining a bunch of paperwork for a motion he now needed to file for.

With her gone, he'd poured himself a coffee, and set back down at his desk and started managing his files. He'd been rereading a document as something odd had caught his attention, and was about to contact Olivia to get some clarification, when there was a knock on his door.

He gave a forced smile when Yelina walked in, but got up and walked over to her, greeting his former friend cordially.

"Papi?" she said, giving him a small smile. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"As always your timing is impeccable, Mamá," Rafael said with a warm smile, to all appearances pleased that she was there. His guard was very much up, but she didn't need to know that. He looked her over. "You look great."

She smiled. "You always say that."

"Well, it's true." And that's exactly why he had. If he wanted her to let her gaurd down and think she had the wool pulled back over his eyes, he had to play the game. He gave her a cheeky smile, taking a seat back at his desk. "A qué debo el placer?" (To what do I owe the pleasure?)

She gave him a more serious look. "We need to talk about Alex."

"Alright," he said with a nod. He gestured to the chair in front of him. "Siéntate, por favor." She made little move to take a seat, so he looked at her a bit more grimly. "What's up?"

She seemed to search for her words for a second, but when she spoke he found no hint of hesitation. "Alex tiene la intención de postularse para alcalde nuevamente en dos años." (Alex is intending to run for Mayor in two years.)

He blinked. "I knew he'd fought to get his senator seat back, but -"

She nodded. "It wasn't easy, but he managed it. He thinks he'll have most of his reputation restored by the next election. Most of the people, especially in el barrio, were on his side anyway."

"Oh, I know," he said with a sigh. " Créeme, I got grief over it, including from my own mother. All this despite the fact that I wasn't the one who investigated him nor the one who pressed charges."

"You handed everything over to the Special Prosecutor."

"What would you like me to have done?"

"Lo sé," she said. "I do realize you were just doing your job, even if it did mean having mi esposo doing a year." (I know.)

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "What is it you want from me, Yelina?"

"Give him a chance," she said, giving him a pointed look. "Creo que hemos demostrado que todos somos humanos y cometemos errores. Todos hemos cambiado. (I think we've proven that we're all human and make mistakes. We've all changed.)

So, they wanted to use his reputation to help them move up in the court of public opinion. Why wasn't he remotely surprised?

He was honestly feeling slightly wrong footed, but tried not to show it. "Even if I give you second chance, we can't go back to the way things were." He shook his head for emphasis. "Nunca."

At that, she tilted her head in a half-nod. "And maybe that's for the best." She pulled him in for a hug. He tensed slightly as she kissed him on the cheek. "A pesar de cómo pudo haber aparecido a veces, Rafi, ninguno de nosotros te estaba usando. _Realmente_ nos importó." (Despite how it may have appeared at times, Rafi, neither of us were using you. We really _did_ care.)

He gave her a bittersweet smile. "I know."

And he did. They had cared. And he'd cared. They'd all felt betrayed about the events of that election period for one reason or another and they'd all been backed into a corner. Rafael by his job, Yelina by her loyalty to her husband, and Alex, by his own choices. He knew. He understood. But, that didn't make it okay. They'd stabbed him in the back, and then twisted the knife.

Something had to give, and he didn't know what. He didn't know of he could trust them ever again. Well, Yelina, she was a bit of a different story than Alex, and yet she'd follow Alex with little hesitation.

Where did they go from here?


	111. Chapter 111

He smiled as he looked at his phone, Noah's face showing up on the screen as he accepted the FaceTime call.

"Hola, Mijo," he said. "Estoy subiendo al carro ahora. Estaré en casa pronto." (Hi, Mijo. I'm just getting in the car now. I'll be home soon.)

"¡Solo quiero decirte algo!" the little boy said rather animatedly despite having a phone in his hand. "¿Te acuerdas de la obra que está haciendo la escuela?" (I just want to tell you, remember how the school is doing that play?)

"Sí, me acuerdo de eso," he assured the boy. "_El Cascanueces_. The Nutcracker, right?" He didn't particularly expect Noah to recall the Spanish title of the play given the fact they'd only discussed it once. (Yes, I remember that.)

Noah nodded, looking quite pleased with himself and whatever it was that the boy wanted to tell Rafael. "Yes. Bueno, me pidieron que interpretara al sobrino." (Well, they asked me to be the nephew.)

"¿En serio?" he said, smiling even more warmly now. "¡Es absolutamente fantástico, Noah! ¡Felicidades!" (Really? That's absolutely fantastic, Noah! Congratulations!)

The young boy's enthusiasm was somehow even more palpable now if that was possible. "Tengo un solo, Papi. ¿Quieres ver?" (I have a solo, Papi. Wanna see?)

"¿Sabes que? Ahorita estaré en casa," he said. "¿Qué tal si me lo muestras cuando llegue allí, Mijo? Entonces puedes mostrármelo en persona." (You know what? I'll be home in a minute. How about you show me when I get there, Mijo? Then you can show me in person.)

"Okay," Noah replied after a moment. His son looked a bit dejected but quickly recovered. "Apúrate. ¡Hasta pronto!" (Hurry. See you soon!)

Rafael felt a bit bad for brushing him off, but pushed the thought aside for a second and went to speak.

He was interrupted, however, by his son talking away enthusiastically once more. "Oh, ¿te acordaste de conseguir los zapatos?" (Oh, did you remember to get the shoes?)

"¿Los carmelitas que te gustaron?" Rafael replied with a chuckle. "Sí, los tengo." He'd wanted a pair of dressy brown shoes he'd seen the other day when they were out shopping that was similar to a pair Rafael had. "Y también obtuve todo para Dulce de Fruta Bomba." (The brown ones you liked? Yes, I have them. And I also got everything for Papaya in Syrup)

The boy grinned. "¡Chévere!" (Awesome!)

He rolled his eyes, amused. "Te quiero, Mijo. See you soon." (I love you, Mijo.)

"Yo también te quiero, Papi," Noah replied cheerfully, the earlier disappointment clearly forgotten. "¡Chao, Pesca'o!" (I love you too, Papi. See you later, Alligator!)

He chuckled at his son's antics. "¡Y a la vuelta, Picadillo!" (In a while, Crocodile.)

There was definitely never a dull moment with his family. He had to chuckle to himself as he ended the call, and got into his car, about how excited the boy was for shoes of all things. That boy was really something else.

The next day was spent with Rafael in court regarding one of his domestic violence cases. It was the last day of the trial, mostly consisting of closing arguments and redirects, and he'd been done by two o'clock, a guilty verdict coming down by four o'clock. He hadn't been sure he was going to get a guilty verdict, especially when the defendant had been found not guilty of the first of several charges.

He'd been back in his office, managing his files, for an hour when he got the call that he was needed down at the sixteenth precinct.

"So, where's the fire?"

His wife sighed. "Meghan Gale - from Kansas - and Freja Bergdahl, an exchange student from Sweden," the captain explained. "Both victims were dosed with DMT. Freja was found two weeks ago at 6 AM, wandering, wearing a sheet by the fountain at Rockefeller Center. As for Meghan, she was found this morning in central park."

"She was drugged," Rollins said, "badly." She sighed. "She was still out of it this morning and collapsed. I was on scene with the EMTs after she collapsed and had to calm her down. She was terrified and kept babbling about elves who want to take her back to her world." Rollins gave another sigh and shook her head. "They had her digging her own grave."

He blinked, trying to compose himself. "My God."

"Now, both rape kits came back with semen from multiple donors," Olivia said, "but from Freja's tox screen, she had been taking prescription antipsychotics. We initially missed the second victim because the unis thought that she was homeless and EDP so they took her to the psych ward."

He nodded to show he was listening.

"DMT overdose is not a regular Saturday night, so I called a Bellevue nurse I know to see if they had any cases," the captain continued.

"So, what are we looking at?"

"It's a man-woman team who pick very young victims," Olivia explained, "take them to some group house, drug them with DMT, rape them, and then and then dump them, in some public space."

"'They got into a chariot with no horse' was how Meghan put it," Fin said.

"I showed him a picture of a pedicab with leopard printed seats and the girl identified it when Rollins showed her," Tamin said. "Traffic cams also caught them - her and a girl named Anais - at Greenwich and 7th."

"And this Anais is the female partner in this?" Rafael inquired.

Olivia sighed. "It certainly seems that way."

"Have you ever seen something like this before?" Rafael asked the room. "Could it be some kind of cult?"

Fin shook his head. "I don't know."

"I've never seen anything like it," the captain said, "but, I mean, Meghan says that she remembers an older man, talking to the group. She called him a wizard. He was apparently teaching. Freja also drew a picture of what Carisi identified as the Bust of Sylvette."

They went over a few more details regarding the oh so lovely case before Rafael finally had to ask. "Are they credible?"

The captain looked at him. "They've been consistent, but they _were_ drugged."

He nodded. "But otherwise? Personal histories? No past drug abuse or-?"

"Seemingly good kids," Tamin said. "Going to school. Not drug takers by any means."

He tilted his head slightly in acknowledgment. "Anything on the rape kits?"

Olivia shook her head. "No hits."

"No criminal records," Fin said, "not DNA savvy."

Rafael raised an eyebrow. "Led by a wizard?"

"Yeah," Carisi said without preamble, "who has unlimited access to DMT, tougher to get than cocaine and meth."

"Shamans in South America use it to access a higher dimension," Olivia explained.

"So our wizard gets DM through a religious group or medical research?" Rafael asked.

"We've already checked clinical trials to see if they've had any of the drugs stolen.

He gave his wife a pointed look. "And?"

"I drove Freja around," Olivia said. "She pointed out a brownstone to me during our drive. It was bought thirty years ago, by a foundation for radical therapy."

"- and gifted to Julius Adler for his institute," Officer Tamin added.

Rafael raised an eyebrow. "So he's our white-bearded wizard?"

Rollins walked over to a photo on their board. "Dr. Julius Adler, an esteemed professor of Radical Psychiatry at Tompkins Square, a prolific author, and -"

"And a freak," Fin deadpanned. "He uses psychedelics as a cure-all."

"In controlled, clinical studies," Rollins pointed out.

"I ran the building, Counsellor," Carisi explained. "It's got nonprofit status. Now, there have been seven complaints in the last year."

His curiosity was piqued. "Such as?"

"Noise," Carisi explained without hesitation, "kids partying, a cello being thrown out of a third-story window."

He nodded. "And both vics remember going into that brownstone? Can they make an ID?"

"No," the captain said, "but Freja was clearly triggered." She paused, giving him a rather serious look. "Now, she thinks she remembers the red door and the high stoop."

Rafael raised an eyebrow. "She _thinks," _he deadpanned. "She also remembered trolls."

"There's reason to believe he has DM and other psychedelics inside," Officer Tamin said without missing a beat.

"But if he's running clinical trials," Rafael said, "it could all be perfectly legal."

"Come on, man," Fin said. "You know you can trust us."

"I do, Fin," Rafael said, "but going out on a limb for you guys, yet again I might add, is just asking for it be sawed off." He gave Olivia a pointed look. "And it won't do the victims any good." He glanced between them all. "_Due diligence."_

The captain gave him an exasperated look. "Look, it's an academic institute."

He glared. "I need some patina of probable cause."

"Seriously?" Officer Tamin scoffed.

Olivia put her hand up to stop things from escalating. "Hey, Kat, he's just he's just doing his job." She sighed, looking at him. "We'll get you the evidence."

He gave a slight tilt of the head in response.

"We could take a run at Adler," Rollins suggested. "See if he gives us anything."

"That's a good idea," Olivia said. "Carisi, Rollins, see if the vics have remembered anything since we last talked. Kat, Fin, you're off to see the wizard."

Once the were alone, all Rafael could do was loom at his wife and say, "Well, this one's going to be a slice."

"That's one way to put it," she said.

They were in for a long next few days.


	112. Chapter 112

The next morning had been a bit hectic. It was Cultural Day at school, so Noah had thrown on his new brown dress shoes that they'd bought him, a pair of khakis, and a long-sleeve, off-white, guayabera. The kid had also wanted to wear his fedora hat. It was honestly adorable. Noah had also taken _pastelitos de guayaba _to share, as the teacher had said they could bring some treats or other small dishes that day for the class if they wished.

Olivia had to run to work, so Rafael dropped Noah off at school. His morning was then a series of consecutive hearings before he managed to grab a quick lunch and made his way down to the 1-6 to deal with the mess of a case that had now turned into an oh so lovely media frenzy.

The conversation with Julius Adler had amounted to basically nothing. All Tamin and Fin had gotten were comment such as _'We have so many, uh, students and teachers, patients coming in and out. They could've audited a class or an open house.' 'The work that we do here, uh, pushes boundaries. Is it possible that while they were in process, uh, feelings of helplessness emerged or traumatic memories resurfaced?'_ and _'I'm assuming you don't have a warrant? Uh, like you, I have to respect confidentiality. I hope that this was productive.'_

The good doctor claiming that so many students passed through the doors of his institute that he couldn't keep track of them did not surprise Rafael or most of the squad. Nor did the confidentiality comment.

The man was clearly hiding something, all their instincts were screaming it, save for Rollins' if her reaction was anything to go by, but the man was doing a good job of keeping them at arm's length.

Rollins seemed to have a fondness for the man, and Rafael wasted no time in getting Carisi and Olivia alone in his wife's office to comment on the loss of perspective, asking the blond detective to 'handle' his fiancée. He was hoping Carisi could help curb more of Rollins' more spectacular self-destructive tendencies.

"Ve bene." The blond detective played with his face some. "I get where you're coming from, I do, but that woman doesn't do anything she doesn't want to."

Rafael raised an eyebrow. "But."

Carisi sighed. "I'll talk to her."

Olivia smiled. "Thank you."

They'd had that conversation and went back into the squad room, Rollins quickly pulling the pair aside to talk about the case. So, Rafael finished pouring their coffees and followed the women into Olivia's office.

"I, um, didn't want to get into it before," Rollins said, "but back in Atlanta when I was going through some stuff, I took some psych courses at Georgia State, and Adler was a guest professor. I'm telling you, this man he's brilliant, empathically, a real healer. Whatever happened to those girls, I can't imagine how he'd be involved."

Olivia gave her a pointed look. "Amanda, I hear you. But you and I both know that that was a long time ago."

Rafael gave the blonde detective a pointed look. "And people change."

"They do," she said, "but it sounds like he still keeps an open door for his students. It couldn't hurt to make an approach."

Olivia looked rather exasperated but was clearly considering the suggestion, and honestly, Rafael was too. They had a rather weak case. Sending someone in undercover might be their only way in. "It's not a _completely_ horrible suggestion," Rafael muttered, shooting the captain a look.

His wife sighed but finally conceded. "Fine, but we're doing this properly."

Rollins nodded, agreeing without hesitation, before she headed out of the office and over to Carisi's desk, taking one of the chocolate bars that Carisi had just grabbed from the vending machine down the hall. Tamin and Fin chatting a few feet away about something or other.

He finished off his coffee and checked the time. "Well, he's not the wizard of Oz," Rafael said, "but I have a meeting with one of the wicked witches henchmen."

"Which one?"

He gave her a wry smile. "Zeirko."

She winced sympathetically. "Good luck."

She took another sip of her coffee and he snorted. "Not the first time he's tried to fuck me over and he hasn't even bought me dinner yet." Chauncey Zeirko was a pain in his ass. Rafael actually preferred Buchanan over him, and _that_ was saying something.

She spat out her coffee when the comment registered and the face she made was absolutely priceless. "Why do I love you?"

He just smirked and gave her a quick kiss. "I'll see you later, Cariño."

She rolled her eyes at him. "See you later, crazy man."

The meeting with Zeirko went a bit better than Rafael had expected. He'd had to listen to the idiot excuse domestic violence and say a few other thinly veiled sexist comments, but that just made Rafael tearing into the sorry excuse for man all that much more satisfying for the prosecutor. He hadn't been overly hostile until the asshat brought Drew Householder into it, acting like he was somehow a better man than Rafael despite Zeirko's many many failings.

Then Rafael very much felt the man needed to be taken down a few pegs, and just ripped into him, putting him in his place. The man's personality and most of his views were absolutely abhorrent. How the hell did he sleep with himself at night?

He'd finally said his piece, reiterated the minimum deal he was willing to except for the case, he wasn't budging and would rather go to trial, gave the man two hours to contact him with his decision, and closed the door firmly behind the man with no little amount of satisfaction involved.

When we went to grab a coffee a few minutes later, Carmen gave him an inquisitive look mixed with amusement. "Do I want to know?"

Rafael gave her a pointed look, as he walked towards her. "He's insufferable."

She pushed a box of assorted pastries towards him. "Eat one. Have a coffee. Manage your files. And then go home and forget about the moron." She then made a comment under her breath about Zeirko that made him laugh.

Some of the tension leaving him, he hummed, selecting one of the pastries. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around."

Carmen rolled her eyes. "Don't you have a pastry to eat?"

He just laughed, thanked her, and took the pastry and coffee back to his office where he sat down and tried to get as much work done as possible.

The next couple of hours passed by rather quickly, and before long he'd packed up his files and was walking through the doors to his home. He figured Olivia was likely going to be at work for another hour or so if earlier was any sort of indication.

He heard music playing softly in the background and the smell of cupcakes was wafting in from the kitchen. He didn't get to ponder that development long, however, as Noah immediately ran up to him, throwing his arms around him. Lucy followed close behind with Sofía. "Papi!"

He ruffled the boy's hair. "Buenas tardes, hijo mío. Cómo estuvo tu día?" (Good evening, son of mine. How was your day?)

"Estovo bien," Noah said, "Uno de los niños de la otra clase, Jamie, quería jugar con nosotros, y no era muy agradable. Pero le dije a la maestra, y ella lo hizo perder el recreo de la tarde y disculparse." (It was fine. One of the boys from the other class, Jamie, wanted to play with us, and he wasn't very nice. But I told the teacher and she made him miss afternoon recess and apologize.)

Lucy looked between them, not really able to follow but more than familiar with the words 'maestra' and 'Jamie' enough to take a guess. "I assume he's explaining what happened at school today? Jamie said some things and ended up pushing one of the kids down on the grass when he got upset over something."

"Yeah," Noah nodded, turning to face Lucy. "I told him that Jamie didn't act very nice but got in trouble for it."

"As he should've," Rafael said to the young boy. "We shouldn't act like that, even if we might be having a bad day."

Noah looked up at him. "I told Will and Mikey we should give him another chance, but he has to promise to be nice first."

He tilted his head in a half-nod but got down to the boy's level. "That's very nice of you, Mijo. But, if he _is_ mean again it _is_ okay to tell him you don't want to play with him anymore. Even if he's a friend. Alright?"

Lucy gave Noah a pointed look. "Your dad's right, Kiddo."

Noah nodded. "I know."

He ruffled Noah's hair again. "Good."

"Papi, did you have to do that before?" Noah questioned.

He gave Noah a side smile. He hadn't talked to Yelina - nor Alex - since their last conversation and had decided to keep it that way. A hard decision, to be sure, but it was for the best. He didn't want to be used or manipulated. "Sí, Mijo, but enough about that. How was the rest of your day?"

"Good," Noah said. "We played tag at lunch and art was fun. The assembly that afternoon was really cool. And I got to try some Indian food and German food. The outfits were really cool. I got to teach the class a little Spanish too!" The boy rambled on, but Rafael just listened, amused by the enthusiasm. "Oh, and we got the marks for our math test and spelling test back today."

Rafael smiled. "How did you do?"

"I did really good," Noah said excitedly. "I only got one wrong on the science test and two wrong on the math one."

"Really well," Rafael gently corrected. "You have a spelling test next week, right?"

"Yeah," Noah confirmed, "but I know the words already. I've been practicing."

"That he has," Lucy chuckled. "Are you guys still down for dinner this weekend?" They were all supposed to go out for dinner and finally meet Antonio. They'd already set it up so the kids would spend the night with Grandma.

"Obviously," he deadpanned, giving her a small smile. He took Sofía from Lucy, the little girl gently snuggling into his neck. "We'll definitely be there, Lucy. Come hell or high water."

"Great," she said, the young lady grinning from ear to ear.

"How was your day?"

"It was good," Lucy said. "Did some drawing and baking with Noah. Sofía tried to help with the drawing, bless her. She went down for her nap with no problem whatsoever, and I got some of my own stuff done. Me and her watched a little TV and went for a walk after her nap."

"Perfect." His phone buzzed, so he checked it and saw a text from his wife. "So, how about we take you up on that rain check tonight? Liv's almost home and dinner won't be to long. Unless you have plans?"

"Please, Lucy!" Noah said, giving the young woman puppy dog eyes. "Papi's making Spanish tortillas and this really good papaya thing."

He chuckled. "Very descriptive, Noah."

Noah rolled his eyes and started to prattle on again.

"Sure," she said, interrupting the young boy's ramblings. "I was just going to order pizza in and watch a movie. Tortillas and visiting you guys sound much better."

"What?" he quipped. "Haven't had enough of this crazy bunch yet?"

Lucy gave him a cheeky look. "I prefer to use the term quirky, if you must know."

He chuckled, lightly shaking his head. "Or idiosyncratic."


	113. Chapter 113

Sitting in Olivia's office after a quick working lunch, he watched the footage of what had transpired earlier that morning between Rollins and Dr. Adler through the eyeglass camera that the blonde detective had been wired with.

Rollins had temporarily gone back to school and attended one of Dr. Adler's lectures at the Department of Psychiatry at Tompkins Square University.

_"Psychiatry has devolved into social control. Depression, anxiety are not symptoms of mental illness. They are, in truth, an organic reaction to oppression. Sexual repression, economic disparity, misogyny, racism, these are all part of the root. And now, as psychiatrists are fond of saying, I think this is a good place to stop. I'll see you all next week." _

He looked at Olivia, raising an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes. Again. She knew quite clearly just what his thoughts on Dr. Adler and the entire situation were. "Don't say it."

_"Hi, Dr. Adler!" Rollins said enthusiastically. _

_"Yes?" Adler said. _

_"I'm a big admirer of yours," Rollins said._

_"Oh," came Adler's response. _

_"Amanda," the blonde detective said, offering her hand to the man. They shook hands as the detective spoke. "I actually took a lecture class of yours years ago."_

"_Yeah," the man said. "Yes, in, uh, Atlanta, right?"_

_Rollins smiled. "That's right."_

_"Yeah," Adler said, smiling more warmly now. "Well, aren't you a fish out of water."_

_"I-I am," Rollins agreed. "Guess you could say I was searching for a bigger pond."_

_Adler just hummed._

_"Um," Rollins said. "I'm finishing up my master's in liberation psychiatry, and all roads still lead to you."_

_"Oh, call me Rome," Adler quipped. _

_"And your book," Rollins said, "'Oppression, Repression, Depression,' it really resonated with me."_

_"Ah," the man said, "so you're the one who bought it."_

_"Why," she inquired, "are you surprised your books aren't bestsellers? Pharmaceutical companies, mainstream psychiatry, they don't want the truth to get out."_

_"Dad," a girl said, "there's a lot of people that are waiting for you."_

_"Oh," Rollins said. "Oh, I'm I'm sorry." She started rambling a fair amount. "Just, um, thanks. Yes. Thanks."_

_"Amanda?" the man said, "Um, I don't know if you're busy later tonight, but, uh, I'm having an open house study session. Eight O'clock. You're more than welcome to join us."_

_"Yeah?" Rollins asked. She grins. "Okay."_

He turned off the audio and turned to face the captain. "I assume you're sending her to Adler's little '_study session'_ tonight?" It really wasn't a question. That was the entire point on the operation; getting her invited.

"Obviously," the captain said. "She'll be wired the same way, and we'll be right outside. We'll need you on standby for warrants."

He nodded. "I'll ask my mother to relieve Lucy, and I'll join you in the van."

She nodded, not overly surprised by his comment. "Alright."

They were alone, so he gave her a quick kiss. "I've got to head back to the office, but I'll see you later. Think you'll be able to gran dinner?"

She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Forlini's at 6?" It would give them time to have a bit of dinner and still give them an hour's playtime to make sure they had everything under control. Not to mention all the preparation they would be able to do before.

"Perfect."

The rest of his afternoon went smoothly, thankfully. He moved one of his appointments to the next day, making it so he only had to deal with one meeting that afternoon, leaving him free to manage his files and get everything he needed on his end in order for the undercover op. that night.

Finally, they were all sitting around the stakeout van, watching the inside goings-on on the screen in front of them.

_"And what about you, Amanda?" Dr. Adler asked from where he was seated. "Do you feel alienated from your true self?"_

_She dipped her head in a curt nod. "I do a lot of the times."_

_Dr. Adler nodded. "Well, we all do."_

"How long are we gonna let this guy hit on, Amanda?" Carisi scoffed.

Rafael raised an eyebrow, looking at Carisi. He understood why it bothered the man, but they still had a job to do. "We're gonna wait for probable cause."

"Or machine elves?" Officer Tamin quipped, receiving a couple of dirty looks at that comment of hers. "Sorry." She gestured vaguely. "I don't believe in regular psychiatry, let alone this."

"I'm with Kat," Fin said. "Paying someone to listen to you talk?"

"Guys," Olivia chimed in, giving them all pointed looks, "please."

Knowing they needed to focus, they all turned their attention back to what was happening inside the so-called study season.

_"Amanda, our society so suffocates the human soul," Dr. Adler explained, " our distance from true self so profound, that we turn to liquor, uh, to gambling -"_

_"Casual sex that just reinforces our low self-esteem," Anais Adler, the crazy doctor's daughter, said. _

_Rollins gave a fake smile, taking a seat, acting as though a light bulb had just gone off. "- But nothing seems to fill the void."_

_"Yes," Dr. Adler said. "Amanda, the reality that you're experiencing right now is not the only reality, but we're all so programmed, that we, uh -" The man was rummaging through his pockets to grab something. "- we can't even access the pathways in our own brains." Anais, who was seated beside her father, held up a pipe, which was clearly what the man had been looking for. "Oh, here we go."_

"What's up with that van?" Fin asked, looking at their second camera which was showing them the goings-on directly outside of the building

_"You know primitive cultures understood this," Dr. Adler continued. "They had a life built around ritual -"_

"White male," Fin pointed out.

"Look like our pedicab driver?"

"To allow them to enter a dream state," Dr. Adler explained. "Amanda -"

"Industrial tanks," Carisi pointed out.

"Maybe Ether?" Olivia suggested.

"I knew it," Fin said. "They're cooking their own drugs."

Olivia huffed, shaking her head slightly at the screen where Dr. Alder was still speaking. "_And you can experience it too."_

_Rollins gave Dr. Adler a sheepish smile. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea."_

_"Amanda," Dr. Adler urged her, "don't be afraid to swim past the breakers."_

Anais offered Rollins a pipe to inhale the drug, and Rollins took off her glasses, but the captain immediately commented that they lost visual and told her detectives to move.

The detectives jumped out of the van and as they moved to the door with officers swarming, Fin told the guy with the tanks to put his hands up. The man said that it was all legal.

Rafael had to watch as they went inside, and hoped that the crazy lunatic of a doctor would actually allow himself to be arrested and didn't have any weapons on him.

Moments later, everyone was walking out, much to his relief. He did, however, notice the slightly glossy look in Rollins' eyes. He suspected she'd been exposed to the drug when inside, accidentally inhaling it. She really should go to the hospital in that case, but shook his head when he heard the woman adamantly denying having inhaled the drugs when she was exposed.

With no injuries, thankfully, it wasn't much later when they all called it a night, the people who needed to be in holding until the following day.

The following morning at the precinct, they had Dr. Adler in the interview room. Rafael had headed to the precinct after the hearing he'd had first thing. He watched as the man asked Rollins where she'd gone. The blonde detective had adamantly denied inhaling the drugs. The psychiatrist said that he saw the light come on in her eyes and her soul leave its cage, saying she was on her journey and that he was curious about where she had gone.

He and Olivia shared a look, and Rollins said nothing in response.

"She's trying to establish rapport?" Rafael asked.

Olivia nodded, and they turned their attention back to the interview. The highlight being the comment, "But if the Great Purge must proceed, then proceed it must." Rafael just loved dealing with assholes with a god complex.

Later, they watched Anais's interrogation. She said that they were family; maybe not the Brady Bunch as that was just an artificial construct to make them conform

Tamin asked if her father told her that, and Anais replied 'and more, every day since she was three, when her mother died.'

Anais explained her father sacrificed everything to take care of her and that what he's built and taught, no one can take that away. She added, 'It is how to be whole; people come to him for an alternative path.'

He raised an eyebrow, eying his wife. "And another one drank the Kool-Aid."

They were now down to one victim since one wasn't stable and the other one, Freja, had gone back to her home country. Thankfully, they discovered that one of the young adult men associated with Adler had worried parents who had come down to speak with them. That meant they had Caleb, the pedicab driver and ten others who were all on video taking a hit from the pipe. That was something. "This case has flees."

"I know it's not a slam dunk, but Meghan identified Anais and Caleb and she remembers Adler giving a lecture," his wife said.

He gave her a pointed look. "But after that, machine elves. She could be the Queen of England and I wouldn't consider her fit to take the stand."

She sighed. "Counsellor -"

He eyed the police captain. "Please tell me that we got a hit from the men's DNA, Lieutenant."

"Nothing," she said. "Yet." He gave her a look of pure exasperation. "But, they're in front of it." He sighed, as she continued to speak. "They claim it was a mutual _psychonautic sexual exploration_." Her tone of voice made it crystal clear just what she thought about that.

"Translation, consensual." He pinched the bridge of his nose, frowning. "Why am I not in the least surprised?"

"Yeah." Olivia sighed.

He noticed Rollins walking up to them now, her interview done. "Okay, so this guy claims academic freedom, but the truth is, he's a puppet master who gets his acolytes to rape and torture girls."

"I don't think that's what this is," Rollins said.

"No?" Rafael sneered. "So Meghan wanted to dig her own grave and run around half-naked in a bedsheet?"

"You know I didn't mean it like that," Rollins retorted.

"Well, Detective," he shot back, more than a little irritated, "then feel free to enlighten me about how exactly you meant it."

Rollins heaved a sigh. "I just, I don't know... he seems off. I think he genuinely believes what he's saying. He actually believes he's helping people." He went to speak, but the blonde put a hand up to stop him. "I know what he's doing. And it is wrong. You don't need to tell me that."

He gave her a curt nod as Carisi opened the office door and announced that Caleb's parents were there.

"Alright," Olivia said, "thanks, Carisi." She turned to better face Rafael as she spoke. "You going to join me in there, Counsellor?"

He nodded. "You know it."

They spoke with the parents who explained that they drove down from Syracuse as soon as they heard what had happened. They informed them that Caleb had had problems with depression and he was not taking any classes any more, it was like he was in a cult. Caleb met Adler in his freshman year about six years ago. He used to call them all the time but now wouldn't even call on holidays. They had an intervention and brought in a minister and emptied their retirement fund to pay for a de-programmer for their son but nothing had worked. All they wanted was to protect him. They had tried to do everything right but they admitted that they didn't know if their son would ever come back. Ever be himself again.

After that conversation, they had the pleasure of meeting with Chief Dodds in the man's office regarding the case. It had gone much as could be expected until Dodds suggested charging Anais and to flip her.

At that point, Rollins stated she didn't think the girl would turn, but then Officer Tamin spoke up, surprising them with what she had to say. "Or maybe that's just another alternate reality he's created." She had all their attention now. "I found a marriage certificate. Adler married Kathleen Bell in '94, but no obituary, no death certificate."

Olivia blinked but quickly recovered, speaking exactly what was on all their minds at that point. "Well, if she's not deceased then where is she? Find out."

Rafael had returned to his office at that point, grabbing lunch on the way. He then sat down with a coffee, managing his files and dealing with a quick last-minute meeting when Rita Calhoun barged in wanting to talk deal on for one of his other cases.

Officer Tamin's comment led to the discovery that Kathleen Bell Adler was admitted to Manhattan Psychiatric Center in 1997. She had been a brilliant clinician until she was found naked in the middle of Harvard Square one day. She was diagnosed with hallucinogenic psychosis with underlying paranoid schizophrenia. She could communicate intermittently but had been particularly bad lately.

After that, Rolling went to talk to Dr. Adler again, something that Olivia had been very reluctant to let her do. When the topic was broached Dr. Alder told Rollins his wife was broken long before he met her. They talked further and the man stated that he helped broken young adults.

Rollins pushed him, and Dr. Adler called her Kathleen. His wife's name. It was clear he is broken himself. The man began to yell. He wanted to know who was out there watching the interview. The man started climbing the metal grating on the window and Rollins explained he couldn't get out that way. The man still creaming, two unis went in to assist in restraining him but Rollins motioned for them to stay back. She managed to get Dr. Adler to come back down and he knelt at her feet, clearly happy, thinking that Rollins was Kathleen. He kept rambling and sobbing as he knelt at Rollins' feet.

"I've got an ambulance on the way," Fin said.

Olivia nodded.

"Could this be an elaborate act?" Rafael suggested.

Olivia looked exasperated. "If you ask me, he's just escaped."

Officer Tamin gestured to the interview. "I honestly have no idea what to make of that," she admitted. "But something's _off_."

Carisi sighed. "Yeah."

Dr. Adler was taken to the hospital and there wasn't much left for Rafael to do at the precinct, so while the detectives dealt with things there, he returned to his office to return a few missed calls and work emails among other things. He was in for a late-night as he had a trial the next day for a domestic.

It was quite later, and most people had gone home, Carmen having left several hours ago. He was considering finally calling it a night when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," he called out, not looking up.

"Figured you would be here," Rollins said after a moment.

He gave the woman a lopsided smile. "The work never ends."

She just hummed in response.

He gave Rollins a look of concern. "Hey, what's up?"

"Um, I went and checked on Adler," she said. "He's at Bellevue and isn't eating or speaking. Nothing He's completely unresponsive."

He raised an eyebrow at that.

"It's not a ruse," she stated.

"Well, that may be, but I still intend to arraign him and his disciples," Rafael stated. "Including Anais. What they did to those women is disgusting.

"I hear you," she said earnestly, and there was something in her expression that he couldn't quite place, "just, can you give me twenty-four hours before you go ahead and arraign Anais?"

He gave her a pointed look. "Why?"

Rollins sighed. "I want to take her to visit her mother. She deserves to know the truth and to meet her mother. For good or ill."

He nodded. "And she can't do that behind bars."

"Exactly." Rollins bit her top lip. "Barba, I know it's a lot to ask..."

He waved her comment off. "It's against my better judgement, but I'll do it." She nodded. "However, I want you to tell me something."

"What?" the blonde questioned.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's your deal with this guy?" he inquired.

"I wanted to hear his side of the story," the blonde said. "I had no idea how far gone he was." She swallowed. "There was a time that I was lost and thought he had the answers. I wanted to learn from him. I wanted to follow him."

"And yet you didn't," he said. "You were smart, Rollins."

"Hmmm."

"Hey," Rafael said pointedly, "you dodged a bullet, Amanda. Don't feel bad about getting pulled in when you were younger. I think most of us have been there in one way or another. I know I have."

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess." She looked at him. "Walk me out?"

"Sure. I'll just grab my things," he said, giving her a warm smile. "I have a family I should get home to as well."


	114. Chapter 114

The past two weeks or so had been hectic as they dealt with two human sex trafficking rings, one out of Chinatown, and one out of Steve Getz's modelling business that ended up in a mess. The Getz case hadn't even gone to trial before the man hung himself in his cell, although not before the mess got Rollins kidnapped while she was seeing her therapist. And Rafael had handed the Chinatown Case against the Chang family to a federal prosecutor who claimed jurisdiction before he'd actually been able to finish his own trial proceedings for the case.

It had been Olivia's birthday, of course, so they'd all gotten together for a small birthday dinner for her and he and Noah made her breakfast in bed.

They'd also had another visit from Sofía's caseworker, and with how things were going it was looking more and more like their adoption in a few month's time was not going to be challenged; no relatives coming forward.

They'd also finally received the invitation to the wedding of Amanda Michelle and Dominick Carisi, Jr. It was going to be a small wedding, just the SVU family, Amanda's kids, and Carisi's immediate family.

Jesse was going to be the flower girl, Billie still being a bit too young, and Noah had been asked to be the ring bearer by the couple, which the boy was excited about when they'd been over for lunch the previous weekend.

Blessedly, things had finally calmed down again. However, Olivia had to spend the day at a DNA conference she'd been 'asked' by Cheif Dodds to attend. Rafael was done court by two o'clock, set to reconvene the next day, and with the overtime he'd had lately decided to pick Noah up from school and go home and be with the kids, bringing a couple of his files home so he could work if the need arose.

He and the kids were walking down 10th Avenue. Well, Rafael was walking, pushing Sofía's stroller; the seven-and-a-half-month-old babbling happily, having already started to say 'Mama' just the other day. Noah was on his scooter, zooming down the sidewalk, more than a little happy that winter had finally come to an end.

"¡Ay! ¡Frena, vaquero!" Rafael quipped. He was amused by the enthusiasm but didn't want Noah to lose control and get hurt accidentally. (Ay! Slow down there, Cowboy!)

Noah slowed down to a stop as asked and then spoke to Rafael. Something had clearly caught the young boy's attention. "¡Papi, mira!" (Papi, look!)

Catching up with Noah, and following the boy's line of sight, Rafael noticed that there was something on the wall. There seemed to be posters of a bike with what looks like an angel with its eyes covered behind it, along with the words 'a bad dream?'

Noah noticed another group of posters with an image of a police officer with a pig face, and a caption that read: Do nothing Donnie asked what I was wearing.

He shook his head, glancing around. He immediately distracted Noah, tone casual as he asked the boy to grab something for him from Sofía's bag.

There was yet another group of posters and then another one. The third group of images had a devil, spearing an angel, which was captioned, 'Shut up you angel whore.' He shook his head, more than a bit stunned.

"Aquí tienes," Noah said, passing him the baby wipes. (Here you go.)

"Gracias, Mijo," he said. "¿Puedes guardarlos para mí?" (Thanks, Mijo. Can you put those away for me?)

He quickly wiped the drool off of Sofía's face and took another look around as he distracted Noah some more.

He was stunned when he saw the huge billboard above them. It was of a woman dressed like a Wonder Woman-like person, shooting fire at a strip club, with a caption: On December 10th I was raped. I told my boss, I told NYPD. They tried to shut me up. But silence makes me louder.

Shaking his head, he told Noah to run ahead to the book shop just ahead, 192 Books, telling the boy he'd catch up in a minute.

Making sure the boy was in his line of sight, he quickly snapped photos, sending them to Olivia and Fin. If what he figured happened, he'd enjoy bringing Dodds in and costing a beyond useless police officer their job.

"¿Eran esos carteles para una película?" Noah asked as they were looking around the shop for a couple of books. (Were those posters for a movie?)

"No lo sé," he replied, "pero ciertamente no es una película para niños." He was not going to explain his suspicions to Noah, and, thankfully, the boy seemed more than content with that explanation. (I don't know, but it's certainly not a kids' movie.)

He had a brief phone call with Fin, who had assured Rafael that he'd be checking OLCS and going over any reports filed in Manhattan South on the date that had been given. Stating that it must have been the possible victim's local precinct.

There was a brief text exchange between Fin, Olivia, and himself regarding the mess, and then Rafael then focused on the kids again, letting the detectives do their jobs. He couldn't do anything at the moment anyway.

He threw his phone back in his pocket and started chatting with Noah who was showing him a book he'd found and how a friend from school had recommended it to him, having enjoyed it themselves.

Rafael noticed a man standing off to the side with, presumably, his own son, mumbling something and shooting dirty looks their way. Thankfully, Noah didn't seem fazed or to really notice it and just ran off to pick another book.

Rafael set his jaw and strutted over to the man, speaking in a tone that was clearly biting. Rafael was far from pleased. "Can I help you?"

"Oh, so you do speak English," the man sneered.

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm rather fluent, yes." What a moron.

The man gave a snort. "Good. Then you'll understand this." The man stepped forward, getting in Rafael's face. "Your kind aren't welcome here."

He rolled his eyes but took a slight step back. "My kind? You'll have to elaborate for me." He smirked. "Would that be the 'Ivy League graduate' kind or the 'Criminal Prosecutor' kind?" He was deliberately playing obtuse, irritating the man. "Oh wait, you meant Latinos." He took a step forward, his legs close together with his weight pushed forward. His head and chin were tilted forward as well.

"Yes," the man hissed. "You should all be sent back to where the hell you came from."

He forced a laugh. "That'll be a short taxi ride. I'm actually from the city. Unlike you, I suspect." The man had probably moved there for work, like tons of other New Yorkers. "I'm a born and raised New Yorker from Jerome." He took another step forward. "Feel free to keep your ignorance to yourself." With that, he started walking away. The man went to punch him, and Rafael just smirked. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Manhattan District Attorney, remember?"

"Asshole," the man snarled.

He turned around, smirking. "I've been called much worse, hijo de puta." The man was glaring, evidently understanding what Rafael had said, but didn't speak. Pleased, Rafael walked away, going to find Noah and finish their shopping. He wasn't about to let that ignorant asshole dictate anything. (Son of a bitch.)

After picking a couple of new books, they spent most of the afternoon at the park until Rafael decided it was time to go home. They got Noah's homework done, tidied the boy's room up some, played legos, and just relaxed around the house, music playing softly in the background, until it was time for Rafael to make dinner.

With Sofía in her playpen, Rafael let Noah do his thing while he started on dinner. The boy had opted to sit down and read one of the new books he'd just picked out. Rafael was making pastel de pollo for dinner with a Cuban-style avocado salad and decided on some dulce de fruta bomba for dessert.

Once everything was finally done, except for the pastel de pollo which still needed to cook, he started tidying up the mess that he'd managed to make. He'd also taken the dishes down, out of the cupboards, to make it easier for Noah to put them on the table. Olivia had also texted, letting him know that she was finally on her way home from work. "¡Noah, ven a poner la mesa, por favor! (Noah, come and set the table, please!)

"¡Ok, papi! ¡Ya voy!" Noah called back, and he could hear the kid walking towards the kitchen mere moments later. (Okay, Papi! Coming!)

"¡Gracias!" (Thank you!)

Rafael smiled, the tension from earlier completely gone. How he'd ended up here, with such a good kid, an adorable baby, and incredible wife, remained to be seen, but he was thankful for every minute of it.

With that thought, he went to grab a now fussing Sofía, who he figured was probably due for a bum change at that point. Not one of his favourite activities.

He snorted to himself. He really had no idea how he ended up a family man, especially when just a few, not so short, years ago even having a long term relationship, let alone getting married, would have seemed unthinkable, to everyone, including himself.


	115. Chapter 115

"Recuerda," Rafael reminded his son, "debes traer una botella de agua hoy." (Remember, you need to bring a water bottle today.)

Noah glanced up at him from where he was putting his lunch into his backpack. He picked up his water bottle for the field trip and waved it at Rafael. "Lo sé, Papi, y todavía necesito un regalo pa'l cumpleaños de Mikey." (I know, Papi, and I still need a present for Mikey's birthday.)

He nodded. "Tu mamá o yo lo agarraremos después del trabajo," he explained. "Sin embargo, debes darte prisa o perderás la guagua." (Your mom or I will grab it after work. You need to hurry up though, or you'll miss the bus.)

Noah rolled his eyes. "¡Ya voy, ya voy!" (I'm coming, I'm coming.)

"Cheeky brat," he deadpanned.

Side-eyed, Noah retorted without missing a beat. "You should shave the beard."

He quirked an eyebrow. His beard had gotten rather long and he'd trimmed it, of course, but found quit liked the look. He'd also laid off dying his hair, and had cut it a fair amount shorter just a few days prior. "Now I'll just grow it out even longer."

Noah gave him a pointed look. "Now who's cheeky?"

Rafael shook his head, more than a little amused by his son's retort. "En el carro. Now." (In the car.)

He had motions court and a plea hearing that morning, all of which had passed without too much hassle. He lost the one motion, but the judge ruled in his favour over the other two motions, so it was still a win in his books.

He then made his way to the 1-6 to deal with the mess from the previous day.

"There were two rape reports filed in Manhattan South on that date," Officer Tamin said. "One was a DV, and the other one was ours."

"But neither is her." Olivia sighed, looking at them all.

"This was an outcry if I've ever seen one," Rafael said. "And I'd prefer to find her before we end up with a repeat of the Jason Karr incident." The woman obviously felt disillusioned, rightfully so, and was likely escalating if he had to guess. The billboard wasn't the first attempt at reaching out.

"Agreed," Olivia concurred. "Fin and Kat, check local strip clubs. Check out the billboard company. Whoever she is, we need to find her."

He shook his head slightly, hating the situation. "I have a meeting with Kressler that I have to get to, but keep me posted."

"You already have a heavy caseload," Olivia pointed iut. "Did you maybe want us to bring in one of your ADAs?"

He raised an eyebrow. "This one's mine, although how's the Wilder case going?"

"We've almost got enough to make a case," Olivia informed him. "Why?"

"Hand it to Lancaster," he said. "He's been doing quite well in E.C.A.B, and if I keep him there much longer I think we'll both end up in straight jackets."

The captain dipped her head slightly, smiling. "Alright then."

Throwing on his jacket, he took his leave, calling Carmen to let her know he'd be a couple minutes late for the meeting.

After the much too long meeting, he grabbed a quick lunch before making a few calls and sitting down two manage his files.

He'd only had to wait a couple of hours, however, before he got a call from Olivia regarding the billboard case. "I'm heading down to the 11th to speak with the brilliant officer who failed to notify SVU. I figured you'd want to come."

"You thought right," he said. He started to grab his things. "I'll head there right now."

Once there, he met Olivia and Fin outside and got a quick update on the case before going inside to deal with Officer Donald Donahue.

When Fin and Rollins went to Hook, Line & Stripper, the strip club manager, Toni, claimed her club was safe. A worker who walked in agreed and said that Toni took care of them. Both the worker and manager pointed out that the woman's previous club, Topaz Gentleman's Club, which was owned by someone who was ex-NYPD, was not so safe. The girls there spent a lot of time their hoping they weren't raped.

Tamin and Rollins had then gone to Topaz and were shot down immediately; everybody denying knowing anything about the woman they were looking for. Rollins and Tamin found the bike outside from the billboards, however, and feeling it wasn't a coincidence, told Olivia the girl likely worked there.

Everyone agreed it was time to finally go to the local precinct for that neighbourhood.

"December, stripper?" Donahue said. "No, I don't think so."

"Think harder," Rafael sneered, giving the man a pointed look. "If you don't cooperate we'll still get the answers we need, but I'll be irritated that you wasted our time. Cooperate and I won't throw a little thing called 'obstruction of justice' your way."

"Oh, yeah, that girl," Donahue said. "Yeah, it's coming back to me."

"So she was raped," Olivia said, "and you didn't notify SVU?"

"It was unfounded," the man said. "I called the club manager. Turns out she was making the whole thing up. Just looking for a payday."

"Who, Jared?" Fin chimed in. "He's ex-NYPD. Are you looking out for him or her?"

"Oh, come on!" Donahue replied. "I did my due diligence. The complaint was BS."

"We're gonna need to see that report," Benson said.

The officer looked sheepish. "Well, when it didn't pan out, I -"

"You tossed it?" Olivia said, her tone a mix of disgust and disbelief. "Do you remember the girl's name?"

"'M' something?" the man said. "Mary? She had dirty blonde hair. A tat of a bird on her hand. Look, I know you SVU guys have big hearts, but this wasn't a real rape."

"'A real rape'?" Olivia sneered. "Is that because they knew each other, or is that because she dances in a strip club?" She gave the man a look of discussed.

"If that's your attitude you shouldn't even be a cop," Rafael said, glaring at the man. "Sex worker or not, no means no."

"Do me a favour," Olivia said, the look of mixed disgust and disbelief still on her face. "Have your captain call me."

They wasted no time getting out of there, more than a little sick of hearing all the crap that the man had been spewing.

Olivia sighed. "When are these dinosaurs gonna die out?"

"Not soon enough," Rafael sneered.

"True that," Fin said. "They have no natural predators."

Did Fin hear the things that came out of his mouth or did he like to be as surprised as the rest of them when he said it? Well, nobody could argue the man didn't have a hell of a lot of personality

"We're looking for a blonde with a bird tattoo on her hand," Olivia said, clearly frustrated. "Somebody at Topaz has to know who she is."

Setting up a sting at Topaz with Fin and Carisi later that evening, they parted ways, Rafael returning to 1 Hogan Place to get some other work done.

Rafael ended up working until eight o'clock before forcing himself to go home, although he ended up running to the store for Noah's birthday present for Mike while his wife dealt with the upcoming undercover sting. It was as close to low risk as you could get, but the fact remained. You couldn't be too careful.

He ended up grabbing a sandwich and snack for dinner on the way home, relieving Lucy and chatting about the day's field trip before reading Noah a short bedtime story; Sofía having long since dosed off do to the rather late hour.


	116. Chapter 116

He had to laugh when he got the report. While at Topaz, a woman approached Fin and Carisi, then proceeded to call the blond detective a choir boy - which he found more funny than he should - and played up to Fin. The sergeant explained that Carisi was looking for a girl he met a month ago there and he described her. Carisi mentioned the tattoo and that the girl was a painter. The woman recognized the description and said Monica Russo, the girl that they were looking for, quit and last she heard Monica was working a dungeon, explaining that was S&M.

"Go talk to her and let me know how it goes," Rafael said. "Keep it to female detectives and maybe she'll open up."

He could almost see the eye-roll over the phone, the tone of voice unmistakable. "Thanks for the faith, Counsellor."

He gave a little snort. "For the record, I'm so calling Carisi 'choir boy' from now on."

She laughed. "You'll realize really quickly what the implications are of Carisi growing up with a bunch of siblings. Sisters to boot. So, do so at your own peril."

He rolled his eyes, not caring she couldn't see it. "Have you met my mother?"

While Rafael got back to managing his other files, and dealing with more than a few phone calls, one of which was with with Sex Offenders Monitoring Unit, Olivia and Rollins went to speak with Monica. When questioned she told Olivia and Rollins that at this new club there were rules. Olivia told Monica she wanted to help her. Monica ended up taking a picture of the pair of detectives and said that they'd be her next billboard (if they didn't take her case seriously).

After that, Fin and Officer Tamin talked to the club manager, who insisted, to no one's surprise, that Monica made the entire thing up.

One of the other girls at the club told Fin that a guy named Markeevious Ryan was who they were asking about and he was rich and didn't need to rape anyone. Monica was just a drama queen.

At that point, Olivia updated him over the phone while he made his way to one of the conference rooms for a meeting.

The meeting hadn't been the most riveting one he'd had, but turning his phone back on more than made up for it.

Olivia had gone to see Monica - at her home studio - who was still rather hostile.. Olivia talked to her and, thankfully, managed to get the woman to open up slightly - the new trauma-informed interviewing techniques definitely helping as she finally got the story from her. Olivia had immediately had Carisi drop off the file with the written statement for him to go over.

_"It was a few weeks before Christmas. The place was packed. Markeevious wanted just me and him in the VIP room. Normally it was me and another girl or two, but that night we were alone. As soon as I shut the door, he started taking his pants off, and I was like, 'Whoa, slow down, buddy!' but he wasn't listening."_ Rafael sighed as he read it. The sheer entitlement here was disgusting. "_He started putting on a condom, and I was like, 'Wrong move, buddy! you know. I was trying to joke my way out of it. I've had to do it a million time before, but that night, I was scared of him. He had this blank look on his face. And he pinned me against the wall. And I tried to fight him, and he threw me on the floor. I was alone. I was trapped. I was yelling, but the music was so loud, nobody could hear me. He just overpowered me. He starting moving me around like a piece of furniture any way he wanted."_ Another sigh left his lips as he continued to read the statement._ "I struggled. but at a certain point, I just gave up. He raped me. After, I just tried to go back on stage. I was trying to pretend like nothing happened. Markeevious was still there, and he waved at me, and that's when I told Jared. And Jared said, 'Markeevious is a good customer, so I should shut up.'" _He adjusted his glasses, and, frowning, finished reading. _"That's when I went to the local precinct. They never even returned my calls."_

He read it again, to make sure he didn't miss anything and then put it off to the side, managing his files again for another hour and a half before he through on his jacket and made his way out of 1 Hogan Place and down to the 16th.

"So what do we have exactly?" he inquired.

"His ex said that there were more allegations," Rollins said, "but she's refusing to name names."

"Doesn't want to give them a way to sue," the sergeant added. "Markeevious also claims that he ain't guilty of rape, 'cause he's gettin' divorced and tipped her."

"Huh, interesting. Still, he's claiming consensual," he said, "which puts him in the room with Monica." He made a face. They had very little evidence. "Anything else?"

"We're working on that," Olivia admitted.

"So we've got nothing," he said. "No rape kit. No DNA. And the victim seems like a bit of a wild card." He glanced at Olivia. "How will she hold up on the stand?"

"Well, she doesn't have a lot of faith in the system," Olivia admitted to him, "but I think I can get her there."

"Well, I can't say I blame her," he said, frowning. "If we had the original report..." His frown lightened slightly. "Talk to Officer Donahue. If he testifies to the reports existence, if it gets to that point, a jury _might_ make that leap."

"Rollins?" Olivia asked, giving the blonde detective a look.

Rollins dipped her head slightly. "On it, Captain."

Rollins was heading out, when there attention was caught by a woman walking through the door with a box.

Olivia seemed slightly surprised, but quickly recovered and there was no hesitation when she spoke. "Monica." _Ah. So this is the woman. _

"What the hell did you say to them?" the woman said tersely.

"What are you talking about?" Olivia inquired.

"The club," she said. "They sent me all of my stuff back." She pointed out the things in the box that she'd now put on the table. "It's all ripped, it's all covered in crap." She rummaged through her things. "Oh, and they sent me this." She pulled out a dead rat in a bag. Rafael couldn't believe they'd has the audacity. Well, he could, unfortunately, but the behaviour was so childish and despicable. Still, it never failed to amaze him how poorly people would treat those strong enough to report. "Yeah," she said, noting the looks on all of their faces.

"Wow, Monica," Olivia said, "I am I'm so sorry. Why don't you come into my office-"

"Why?" the woman sneered. "So we can talk?"

"Markeevious conceded that he had sex with you," Olivia explained. "He said he tipped you after -"

"After I was raped," she said, not missing a beat. "Yes, I took it. I was in shock."

Th captain looked like she was about to speak, but Rafael cut in, concerned that the victim would leave if she became any more frustrated with the police, Olivia in particular as she'd been so involved. "Believe me, we understand that," Rafael said, "but I would like to actually sit down and have a conversation with you."

She eyed him. "And who are you?"

He took a step forward, offering his hand. "Rafael Barba. I'll be the one prosecuting your case if this goes to trial." Her glare didn't lessen much. "Regarding that, I can try to get you an Order of Protection of that would make you feel more comfortable."

"Like you care," she scoffed.

He gave her a sad smile. "I do, actually. As a matter of fact, I am the one who called the billboard in." A pointed look. "We're on your side here. Okay?"

She huffed, but relaxed slightly. "About that Order of Protection..."

He really hoped Rollins would be able to get the cop to testify. If the woman was pushed over the edge much more he thought she might just torpedo the entire case, which was weak enough as it was.

They talked for a while longer, Rafael trying to suss out what kind of witness she'd be, before Monica finally left. As the door closed behind her, he turned to Olivia. "See if you can get into _any_ of his prior bad acts." He shook his head. "This can't be his first time raping a hooker."

She sighed. "Wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Send Tamin to make some rounds?" he suggested. "She's ex vice. She's good, _and_ there has to be rumours about this guy."

"Well," she said, "it can't hurt."


	117. Chapter 117

He'd just gotten out of his last meeting for the day when he'd gotten called down to the precinct regarding the Markeevious debacle. Apparently the 16th's SVU had managed to snatch a tie out of the jaws of defeat.

"I've been contacted by two other women Markeevious raped," Olivia informed him once he reached the center of the squad room.

"Here in New York?" he inquired.

"Occurred out of state, but goes to pattern," she explained. "They're both here."

He raised an eyebrow. "They drove all the way down here?"

"They both currently live in state," she said.

He nodded, following her towards the interrogation rooms, where he watched from outside with the captain as the two women were interviewed.

"I was his masseuse for about a month," the first victim, Ariana Lopez, explained. "One night, in his hotel room, he grabbed my breast. Flipped into rape mode."

"'_Rape mode_'?" Rollins questioned.

"His face became like an empty mask," the woman said. "He threw me against the wall, on the floor, climbed on top of me, forced himself on me. I grew up with four older brothers. I've been holding my own since I was six. I'm tough. But with Markeevious, I couldn't do a goddamn thing. Will I be here long? I'm on a lunch break. Bed Bath & Beyond. Just until I figure out what to do with my life."

The interview went on a bit longer, and they switched their attention to the second interview with the second victim, Jan Erickson.

"I was a sports journalist before I was assaulted," the woman explained.

"Why don't you tell me what happened to you?" Carisi suggested.

"I had lucked into an interview with Markeevious in his hotel room," she said. "I was excited. But I could tell he wasn't taking me seriously. He kept asking if I had a boyfriend. He touched my breast. I pushed him away. He grabbed me. His face was blank. He assaulted me."

"Did you tell anyone?" Carisi asked. "Or go to the police?"

"No. I went home and took a bath," she admitted. "I can't even watch sports anymore. I feel like I'm running away in my head as fast as I can, like something ugly is chasing me. It's me. An ugly me."

That interview didn't go on much longer and Rafael wracked his brain for the best way to use the little information they had gained.

"So two prior victims of Markeevious with the same MO that Monica described," Rafael said, eyeing them as he spoke.

Tamin looked at him. "Can they testify?"

"It's a jump ball," Carisi said.

"He's right," Rafael said. "Under the Molineux Rule, prior bad acts are not admissible to show propensity to commit a crime."

"But they are if they show pattern," Olivia pointed out.

"True," he agreed easily, "but neither of these women filed a police report. The defence will argue collusion."

"Monica did file," Olivia said pointedly, slightly irritated with Rafael. "And until we arrest Markeevious, we're saying that her word isn't good enough."

He sighed. "Will Donahue testify?"

Rollins frowned. "He still doesn't think it's a 'real rape.'"

"I'll subpoena him then," Rafael said without preamble. "I need his testimony, whether or not he considers it possible to rape a sex worker." He glanced at Olivia. "I'll get you your arrest warrant and request a Molineux hearing." He looked at them all, but eyes lingered pointedly on Olivia. "In the meantime, and I'm dead serious here, let's get Monica to see you as advocates. And out of the press and away from the paint." He rolled his eyes. "I don't need any more billboards."

"Got it," Carisi chirped.

"Liv?" He gave her a pointed look. _I'm serious. _

She nodded. "I _am_ aware she's unpredictable."

"Good." And with that, he walked away, pulling out his phone to make a call, hoping to get a hearing booked sooner rather than later.

He then spent the next few hours managing his other files and dealing with some missed work calls and emails.

Olivia and himself got home within fifteen minutes each of the other, and they chatted with Lucy for a while before inviting her to stay for dinner.

The young woman agreed enthusiastically and Olivia ordered pizza while Rafael brought out board games, the group spending the night relaxing, chatting amicably, and playing different games, putting Sofía to bed about halfway through the evening.

They then all said their goodbyes and Olivia read a bedtime story to Noah before Rafael went it to say goodnight as well, the couple turning a movie on in their bedroom and falling asleep halfway through.

They woke up little after six o'clock, had a quick shower, and then Rafael made breakfast and threw on a pot of coffee while Olivia made sure that Sofía and Noah were ready for the day. He quickly ate and ran to the courthouse, leaving Olivia to drop Noah off at school. He had managed to get one of the first free slots that day with Judge Roshan Namazi, and had no intention whatsoever of being late for it.

"Your Honour, pursuant to People v. Molineux, the State seeks to include evidence of two prior rapes that were committed by the defendant," he stated. "One of which occurred in 2018 and the other in 2016."

"I've read your brief, Mr. Barba," the judge said. "Neither woman filed a report?"

"Not at the time," he admitted, "but they have gone on record. The assaults described go to modus operandi. There are consistent details in all three victims' accounts."

"Your Honour," Barth said, "these women are only coming forward now. Obviously, they're seeking publicity."

"Your Honour, the defence can cross on motive," Rafael said. "These women have nothing to gain. Initially, they were afraid to make an accusation against a powerful celebrity." He gave her a pointed look. "Moreover, these testimonies are needed to show intent-"

Counsellor Barth rolled her eyes. "And are more probative than prejudicial."

"No," he said. "They are highly probative. These are crucial to not only proving intent but to establish the absence of a mistake. A common scheme."

The defence attorney was now visibly irritated. "They are unsubstantiated."

"It is not unusual for victims of rape and sexual assault to fail to come forward immediately," he said. "The stigma attached, the -"

Judge Namazi sighed. "As sympathetic as I am to the many reasons a rape victim may not be willing to come forward, these statements _are_ unsubstantiated. Mr. Barba, I'm excluding these witnesses."

"Thank you, Your Honour," Barth said, a self-satisfied smile on her face.

The judge nodded and banged the gavel. "The court is in recess."

Closing up the open manila folder, he put it in his briefcase and made his way out of the courtroom. He wracked his brain, strategizing, all the way to his office.

If and when this went to trial, Barth wasn't likely to let her client take the stand, a move that had blown up Rafael's cases before.

A 'he said, she said' with only one side of the story, a side that was discredited every step of the way? That was a recipe for disaster.


	118. Chapter 118

The next week was hectic, between work and the kids. Sofía had a wellness checkup at the doctors, they had a home visit for her, and Noah had a birthday party and a sleepover to go to. The birthday was for a school friend, and The sleepover was with one of his friends from Los Amiguitos, the program Noah attended at the charter school.

Rafael had had trial dates for several other cases lately, spending a lot of his time in court, but waved motions on the Russo v. Ryan case, trying to get the trial to happen much sooner than later if at all possible. He'd also sat down for trial prep with Monica, hoping to help cooler heads prevail on the stand.

Needless to say, there had been more than a few late nights at work as he dealt with the never-ending stack of files that fell onto his desk. That left managing the kids largely to Lucy and Olivia.

He deliberately didn't call Monica Russo to the stand right off the bat, opting to have the cop who took her report testify to said report beforehand, something that would hopefully make her case that little bit stronger.

Officer Donahue hadn't been thrilled about the situation, but had respected the subpoena, nonetheless, and was honest and transparent about the little he knew.

"I had danced for him before," Monica explained when she finally took the stand, "and that night, I was paid to go into the champagne room, but getting raped was never part of the deal."

"If you could point out the man who raped you, once again, for the jury, please?" he said without preamble.

"Mm-hmm," she said with a slight nod before she pointed towards the defendant with her index finger. "That's him. Markeevious Ryan."

"Thank you, Ms. Russo," Rafael said before taking a seat.

Counsellor Barth made her way to where Rafael had been standing just moments before. "Just to be clear, Ms. Russo, and forgive me, I'm still getting the ins and outs of the stripper business -"

"Your honour!" Rafael objected.

"- But you were initially paid $800 that night?" the defence attorney continued, completely unperturbed.

"The club gets more than half of that," Monica explained.

Barth gave her a look that was hard to read. "But you accepted my client's $200 tip?"

"Okay," Monica said, trying to keep her voice level, "I was on autopilot."

"Just answer yes or no," Barth retorted.

"Yes," Monica said a bit icily.

"So you're saying that my client raped you," Barth said, "and then afterwards, you and the club collected $1,000."

"Objection!" Rafael scoffed. "Asked and answered."

The judge nodded. "Ms. Barth, move on."

"Happily," the woman said.

"Did you get a rape kit?" Barth inquired.

"The officer I reported it to told me there was no point," Monica retorted.

"Ah, yes, the missing police report," she said.

"Your Honour!" Rafael called out. "This has already been verified. The officer himself testified to taking her report."

"Agreed," the judge said. "Sustained."

"He also testified to the fact that he then threw that report out," Barth said, "when he decided that her complaint was unfounded."

Monica looked about to yell, so he gave her a look, telling her to be quiet and spoke up before she could proceed. "Which given the complete lack of any investigation, whatsoever, at the time, wasn't his call to make."

"Move on, Counsellor," the judge said, eyeing Barth.

The defence attorney nodded. "You consider yourself an artist, don't you, Ms. Russo?"

Monica gave a curt nod. "I am an artist."

"How many shows have you had?"

"It's really hard to get shows when you're starting out," Monica explained calmly, "especially in New York."

"So, none," Barth quipped. "And you've never sold any of your artwork, have you?"

He didn't like where this line of questioning was going at all.

"No," Monica admitted.

"In fact," Barth pointed out, "your biggest success as an artist to date has been that billboard. Isn't what you're really angry about? That you have to dance at a strip club for a living instead of working as an artist?"

"Objection!" he called out. "Badgering. Again! This is getting ridiculous, Your Honour."

Barth smirked. "Withdrawn. Nothing further."

Rafael looked up at the judge. "Redirect, Your Honour?"

Counsellor Barth had yet to put Markeevious Ryan on the docket, and he needed to force her hand and do some damage control while he was at it.

The judge nodded, and Rafael stood up walking to the center again. "Ms. Russo, does being called a liar, because you're a stripper, make you angry?"

"It makes me furious," she agreed.

"They can say whatever they want about you," he said. "Does that seem far to you when the man who raped you is just -" A vague gesture. "- sitting there, watching you be blamed."

"Objection," Barth said, her tone more frustrated.

"Withdrawn," he said. That's not why I said it. He smiled at Monica. "Ms. Russo, what do you think about the defendant? Right now." But don't overdo it. Remember everything we discussed during prep.

"I think he was a bully in the room," she said with a biting tone, "and I think he's a coward now. He doesn't have the balls to face me."

He gave her a look that said "shut the hell up now," and fought back a laugh, a self-satisfied look on his face when the defendant and defence counsel started softly bickering and a short recess was requested and granted.

He gathered up his files and met Olivia, Monica and the woman's fiancé outside.

"I know," Monica said when she saw him, not registering the look on his face, "you told me where the line was, and I crossed it. I screwed up."

"No, you didn't," he said smirking. "I led. You followed. It's often a risk, but I decided to play a round of poke the bear."

Olivia just shook her head.

"Why?" Monica inquired.

"You want him to take the stand," he said simply. "I want him to take the stand."

He didn't get to hear Monica's reply as their conversation was interrupted. "What the hell was that?" Barth sneered as she walked up to them. "Amateur hour? I would have expected better from you, Barba. You're gunning for contempt."

"Oh, go back to your rapist client," he shot back, smirk still on his face.

The sight of the woman storming off amused Rafael more than he'd like to admit.

"She's pissed," Olivia pointed out. "You got to her."

"Not me," he said. "Monica. My guess is it worked. Markeevious is pushing her to take the stand. She'll allow or risk being fired. He seems too prideful to take what happened up there laying down."

They had an hour before they were expected back in the courtroom, so went outside for a bit of fresh air, grabbing a sandwich from a nearby cart, before Olivia headed back to the precinct.

The following cross-examination couldn't have gone better.

"I didn't rape her," Markeevious said. "I just paid her for consensual sex."

"Thank you, Mr. Ryan," Barth said, taking her seat, while Rafael walked to where she'd been standing a few moments earlier.

"Now," he said rather pointedly, "it was your idea to go into the champagne room that night, was it not?"

The man nodded. "Yes. But she wanted to."

"Did she tell you that?" he inquired.

"Come on," Markeevious said as though it were obvious. "She's a stripper. I mean, I'm a celebrity. They all want a piece of me."

"I get it," Rafael said, moving onto his next question.

He hinted, none too subtly, at the other accusations the man's ex-wife had alleged and threw every punch he could think of. For a while, he didn't think his plan was actually going to work but eventually, Markeevious lost it. "Nobody says no to Markeevious!"

"And what happens if they do?" he inquired. "What if a woman has the nerve to say no to the great Markeevious Ryan?"

"It just means they want more money," the defendant said as though he was talking to a room full of bad cheese.

"Right, right," he said, "because, clearly, every woman wants a piece of you!"

"You're damn right!" the man exclaimed.

"Objection, Your Honour," Barth said, tone neutral except for the subtle hint of frustration she hadn't quite covered up.

The judge looked at Barth. "Overruled."

Rafael smirked. "No further questions for this witness."

It wasn't much longer before closing arguments and he was honestly more than a little relieved when the jury was finally dismissed for deliberations.

And he was even more relieved when three hours later the jury came back.

He readied a possible post-trial motion for the case, tried to reassure Monica, and replied to a couple of e-mails; also doing some personal texting intermittently as well while he waited for the verdict.

He had spent most of the time doing sudoku, however. A favourite go-to of his when he was forced to sit around waiting. He'd started it as a new prosecutor after his first couple of jury deliberations. He'd thrown up the first time and had done only marginally better the next few times before he found something to distract him.

Now it was more out of habit and boredom than anything.

This particular wait was definitely on the shorter end, but he was hesitantly optimistic that the jury's common sense would prevail. Markeevious had made his thoughts on Monica, and women in general, crystal clear.

"On the sole count of rape in the first degree," the judge said as the proceedings started once more, "how does the jury find?"

The spokeswoman looked straight at the judge as she spoke. "We find the defendant, Markeevious Ryan, guilty."

As they walked out of the courtroom, Monica caught is attention. She seemed slightly hesitant to speak, but that quickly faded. "Mr. Barba. Thank you."

He gave her a sideways smile. "Just doing my job."

"Were you really the one who found the billboard and reported it?" she questioned after a moment.

He nodded. "I was."

She looked at him inquisitively. "Why did you take my case when nobody else was listening to me?"

"Because rape is rape," he said simply. "Paid or not paid, that shouldn't matter."

She swallowed a lump in her throat. "Well, thanks. Again."

Olivia walked up to them, and the three of them chatted briefly before Olivia wished Monica luck, the younger woman taking her leave. "You did well back there."

He smirked. "Always that tone of surprise."

She chuckled. "Never, Love." She looked at him, smiling warmly. "Get Amanda to get a sitter and see if your mother can babysit?"

He nodded. "Squad night out?"

"It's been a while," she said with a smile.

He shook his head, chuckling. "You don't have to convince me."


	119. Chapter 119

As they neared March, things were frantic and stressful in more ways than one. Rafael was away at a work conference in Albany and was crazy busy while Olivia was going through a rather rough time back in Manhattan.

Albany wasn't far, but it wasn't remotely practical for him to go home everyday, getting there rather late, just to have to drive all the way back at an insanely early hour the following morning. It made way more sense for him to stay in Albany.

Ed Tucker had official retired and had a goodbye party, with his friends an d cowerkers invited. Olivia, who he had dated at one point, had been invited.

There had been an incident at the party that ended in an ex-cops suicide. SVU investigates the rape of the police officer, Rachel Wilson, by an Internal Affairs officer that Tucker had cleared, the investigation and the coming out leading to another suicide. That of Ralphie Morris.

Wilson had been in vice. She used to work with Morris who Officer Tamin looked up to and so Tamin and Olivia went to go see him. They asked him about Wilson. He told them that she got around a lot and that her word couldn't be trusted. He also asked that they not include his name in their case. Ralphie didn't want it to get around that he was talking to SVU and unfortunately that once conversation must have back some sad reminders because he later killed. Ralphie killed himself, but before he did he pointed them towards Gary Wald, an old friend and partner of Tucker.

Meanwhile, the recently married Tucker revealed some devastating news about himself to Olivia, letting her know he'd had brain cancer for awhile, since before the two had dated. She didn't found out in a particularly good way.

Olivia had confronted him, since he denied remember anything at all about Wilson, and asked him what he was hiding. That was when he told him that he was dying. He'd been hiding it from everyone and that's why he didn't remember Rachel Wilson. He also said that he never covered up anything. He had trusted his former partner. He agreed to wear a wire and he talked to his old buddy, getting the man to confess to everything on tape.

No sooner did Lancaster bring Gary to the court that Ed Tucker killed himself.

The man had left a suicide note, writing in it that Tucksr didn't want his wife wasting good years taking care of him.

Fin had tried to be there for her as Olivia had clearly been struggling, but Olivia had said she'd be fine, that she was good.

Fin had contacted him and given him a run down rather quickly, but Olivia had been asleep when he'd called and then she'd gotten thrown into work. He caught her on video chat for a few minutes during lunch, however.

She gave him a warm smile. "How's the conference going? Following the primaries during your down time?"

"Absolutely riveting, and yes, I am," he quipped, scratching at the thick hairs on his chin. "That's also why one of our speakers had to cancel on us the day of their presentation."

That surprised her. "How come?"

He shook his head. "Issues with the Ohio caucus."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Election fraud," he said with a snort. The federal prosecutor was having a very interesting time of things at the moment. "We're living in a dystopian nightmare." He eyed her. "Enough about me," he said, raising his hand and thumping it against the table, "how are you?"

Olivia gave a sad little hum and lightly bit at her knuckle, clearly close to tears.

He gave her a serious look. "I heard about Tucker."

He honestly found it easier than he thought to put his feelings regarding Tucker to the side. He'd never been the man'a biggest fan, and Olivia and him had dated, which Rafael hadn't handled finding out about well.

Still, they'd all moved on. He trusted Olivia and definitely wasn't overly insecure about their relationship. The man had also died and stuck by his morals and convictions to the end, something that Rafael could respect.

It also was clear that Olivia was hurting.

"You know, it's been rough... a lot of loss lately," Olivia replied, a hint of pain playing on her face as she said the words. "Time is just flying by."

He nodded, wracking his brain for something to say. He wanted to help but wasn't really sure how. "Everyday."

Olivia nodded and ran her hands down her face, clearly attempting to regain some of her composure. He wanted nothing more than to take her pain away. She had so many people come and go from her life over the years and to lose two people she cared about so close together...

He looked at her. "I'll be back soon," he said, putting his hand on his desk as he spoke. "We'll grab dinner, just you and I."

She smiled a little fuller at that. He was relieved to see some of her earlier happiness return. "I'd like that." She was clearly about to end the call as both their lunch breaks were almost over and she had to go back to work. But he didn't want to end the call just yet. He leaned closer to the camera slightly. "Oh, oh oh! Before I go!" A crinkly-nosed smile lit up his his face. "Mayor de Blasio is apparently looking to appoint two new judges to Criminal Court."

"Really now?" she pressed, still smiling. "Is that something you're interested in? I know you were considering it awhile back."

"It actually is," he admitted, still beaming. "Anyway, I told him to give me some time to consider the offer. I wanted to talk to you first. I wouldn't take the bunch immediately anyway, even if I did take the post." He was still torn about leaving SVU, but he'd initially never intended to stay at SVU as long as he had. He'd transferred to Manhattan for political reasons. It has been a stepping stone, the bench always being the end game for him.

He'd stayed with the unit though as he actually enjoyed the work at SVU and found it rather rewarding. Still, the end game hadn't changed.

She nodded. "I'm behind you either way."

"I know," he said. And he did. She'd stuck by him through a lot over the years, including when his suicidal streak got him put on trial for murder. That guilt hadn't entirely gone away, but he'd made his piece with it more or less. He'd moved on. He'd had to.

Olivia smiled and wordlessly put her hand over her heart, in a gesture that spoke more than their words could manage.

He returned the gesture. "Regards to the squad and the little ankle-biters." He gave her a lopsided smile. "Love you. And I miss you more than you know, mi amor."

"Love and miss you too, Rafa," she said, her eyes sparkling with emotion. They just smiled at each other for a moment before Olivia closed her laptop, ending the call.

With that, he got ready to go do some more networking and deal with a fair amount of people that frankly had their head up their asses.

He couldn't wait until he was home.


	120. Chapter 120

When he finally walked through the front door of their brownstone that Saturday mid-morning, he was more than a little relieved. It'd been a long couple of days, and he missed his family. He'd also been more than a little worried about Olivia, although he knew she had support.

The first thing that hit him was the smell. His mother had very clearly commandeered the kitchen, preparing lunch.

His heart fluttered when he was greeted by Noah running up yelling 'Papi' and throwing his arms around him, his wife pulling him into a kiss moments later. "I'm so glad you're home."

He smiled, giving her another peck on the cheek. "I am too, Cariño."

He had to smile when his mother - Sofía in her arms, Eddie, his partner Erika, and Sebastián walked up, his honorary nephew giving him a hug as well, before running off to play with Noah again.

"¿Y qué es esto que escucho sobre el alcalde De Blasio?" his mother inquired. (And what is this I hear about Mayor de Blasio?)

He shook his head, amused. He really wasn't surprised Olivia confided in his mother and that Lucía Barba of all people was being nosy. "Nada está escrito en piedra, Mami. Simplemente dije que consideraría el puesto." (Nothing is set in stone, Mami. I merely said that I'd consider the post.)

"Bueno, creo que deberías tomarlo," his mother shot back without missing a beat. "Pero, it's your call, Mijo." (Well, I think you should take it.)

He rolled his eyes, but, despite the slight snark, he really wasn't remotely irritated by the comment. "Tu voto es apreciado." (Your vote is appreciated.)

Eddie eyed him. "What's up? ¿Qué pasa?"

He gave a look, and switched to English for Erika's sake, taking the not too subtle hint from Eddie. "I'll explain once I know more if it goes anywhere."

"Alright," Eddie said, "but you're not moving, are you?"

He shook his head in the negative. "No, no. We're staying in the city."

Eddie smiled more warmly at that. "Good."

"So, how was the conference?" Erika asked.

"It was _interesting_," he drawled.

Olivia looked at him with fond amusement. "Could have been worse. You _could_ be currently tilting at windmills."

A chuckle immediately left his lips. "True." He glanced between Eddie and Erika. "What have you guys been up to lately?"

"Well, we went to the movies yesterday," Erika said. "That was fun."

"We checked out the Chocolate, Wine & Whiskey Festival too," Eddie said. "Not necessarily my thing, but we enjoyed ourselves for the most part." He glanced at Rafael and Olivia. "You guys? Besides the work trip, I mean."

"Well, -" Olivia immediately went off chatting, and eventually they broke off into little groups the women gossiping while he and Eddie prattled away about something or other over cups of coffee. Sofía being passed between them all, giggling happily, the almost-eight-month-old clearly revelling in the attention.

Eventually, the boys came out, wanting something to drink. He'd easily agreed, trying not to laugh at his mother's, and Eddie's, antics. Poor Sebastián looked more than a little uncomfortable with the request. Both had easily readable looks on their faces and his mother was mouthing something about 'casa ajena.'

Casa ajena: a house that's not yours. Those were loaded words in Cuban culture. There were many things you couldn't do in a casa ajena. Going into someone else's fridge or accepting something when offered wasn't really done. If your hosts asked you, which they often would, you already ate or weren't thirsty. And a sleepover at a casa ajena? HA! There were strict rules of behaviour around the whole thing.

He just rolled his eyes, and then eyed them both as he spoke. "Apenas somos extraños." He gave Sebastián a small smile to reassure the kid. "Adelante, and grab yourself a drink, Chiquito."

The kid glanced at his father questioningly.

"Go ahead," Eddie conceded, "if it's alright with your tío."

Olivia was now giving him a questioning look, clearly wondering where this all was going. She definitely didn't care if the kid wanted a drink or something to eat, and honestly, he doubted she actually caught 'ajena' and if she had, she likely wasn't overly familiar with it.

Rafael rolled his eyes so hard it wasn't funny. "It's fine, I assure you." When the two boys ran to the kitchen, he eyed Eddie. "Hermano, my house, my rules. Your kid can have a drink. Honestly." Another pointed look. "Your family had a definite open door policy with me and the same goes for your kid with me." They had. They'd made sure Rafael had lunch, or at least a small snack, more times than he could count over the years, which was saying something given the García family's own situation both now and at the time. Especially once the gang from PS109 decided to make Rafael their new punching bag and made it a point to constantly take his meagre lunch money. Eddie was also one of the only people Rafael had ever admitted he was abused at home to. Not using that word, but Eddie knew he was being hurt and he'd tried to help. He really had.

Eventually, they all sat down for lunch, Olivia feeding Sofía, and Noah and Sebastián had maybe a little too much soda and decided to beguile the table with a few, admittedly entertaining, stories. His mother throwing in a few anecdotes of her own; one of which was only slightly embarrassing for Rafael, but he should've gotten used to that by now. He loved his mother, he really did, but she also really needed a new hobby, in his opinion.

Lunch passed pleasantly, however, and after everyone had had their fill, they migrated back to the living room, a fresh pot of coffee on.

By one o'clock, Sofía was getting fussy and was giving Erika a bit of a hard time. She was clearly tired, so he held his arms out, taking Sofía from her. "I'll be back in a minute. "I think it's nap time for la princesita here."

"I can take her," Olivia offered.

He waved it off, giving her a quick kiss. "I love you, but I've got this. You looked after both kids while I was gone. I can handle nap time."

She chuckled. "This is why I love you."

He took the little girl to her nursery, changed her, and put her down. She refused to settle though, so he sat down in the rocking chair with her and started singing softly, a soft smile on his face as he did so, looking at the little girl he was holding who was now beaming at him.

_Drume negrita_  
_Que yo va a comprar nueva cunita_  
_Que tendrá capite' y también ca'cabe'_  
_Si tu drume yo te traigo un mamey muy colorao_  
_Si no drume yo te traigo un babalao_  
_Que da pau pau_

_A la negrita se le salen_  
_Los pies de la cunita_  
_Y la negra Merce' ya no sabe que hace'_  
_Drume negrita_  
_Que yo va a compra' nueva cunita_  
_Que tendrá capite' y también ca'cabe'_

As he finished that line she was clearly almost out of it, so he sang the rest even softer, finally lulling her to sleep.

_Si tú drume yo te traigo un mamey muy colorao'_  
_Si no drume yo te traigo un babalao'_  
_Que da pau pau._

The lullaby now finished, he gently got up and placed her in her crib, staying a moment to make sure she stayed asleep before he snuck out of the room. She looked so peaceful he almost didn't want to leave, but he closed the door behind him and went to join the others again.


	121. Chapter 121

The rest of Saturday had gone quite well, and they had a pizza and movie night, just trying to relax once everyone went their respective ways.

It was definitely a nice way to end their night, and despite how tired he was, he was more than happy to just relax on the couch with his family now that he was home.

The travel hadn't been particularly long, as he was only in Albany, but he missed his family way more than he ever expected. Not waking up to Olivia there beside him or to Noah jumping on the bed just felt off. It was so nice to be home.

Sunday, they went to mass and then spent the rest of the day at his mother's, the Garcías join them, his mother welcoming any excuse to spend the day with María Elena. Erika was otherwise engaged, so she hadn't joined them this time.

Sebastián and Noah were doing their thing, more than reasonably entertained, and the adults were sitting around prattling on about something or other.

"Mami, ¿has hablado recientemente con tía Cuca o tío Richi?" he inquired. It had been longer than he liked to admit since he'd called his family back in Florida. (Have you talked to Aunt Cuca or Uncle Richi recently?)

"Sí, y están bien. De hecho, vendrán a visitarnos en unas pocas semanas," his mother replied, giving him a funny look now as she spoke the next sentence. "Y... escuché en la radio bemba que Mau se volverá a casar." (Yes, and they're doing well. They're coming down to visit us in a few weeks, actually. And... the gossip is that Mau's getting remarried.)

He was more than a little surprised by that. His paternal uncle wasn't something that marriage or relationships, in general, seemed to overly agree with. "Bueno, eso dura lo que dura un merengue en la puerta de una escuela," he said rather uncharitably. (Well, that won't last long at all.)

His mother quirked an eyebrow and her tone was quite serious when she finally spoke after a moment. "No comas mierda. Estuvo comiendo un cable por un tiempo, sí, pero tu tío no es un mal tipo, Rafael." (Don't be a fool. He had a rough go there for a while, yes, but your uncle isn't a bad guy, Rafael.)

He sighed. He knew she was right. He just had a little bit of resentment or bitterness still, that was largely misplaced. He knew it wasn't black and white, and he'd largely forgiven his father, but forgiving wasn't the same as forgetting. His uncle always compared him to his father and he felt like he never measured up. However, he knew his uncle hadn't actually been trying to be malicious. "Lo sé, Mami. I'm aware."

Olivia eyed his mother curiously, adjusting Sofía's position in her baby carrier ever so slightly. "Who's he marrying?"

"Some younger woman," his mother said with a shrug. "I haven't met her, but they only just got engaged apparently."

"Does she have a name?" Rafael inquired.

His mother gave a small shrug. "Andrea or something like that." She glanced over at Eddie's mother. "Mariquita, ¿quieres un cafecito? ¿Mamita?"

María Elena raised her empty coffee cup, lips curved upwards in a warm smile. "Me encantaría uno, gracias." (I'd love one, thanks.)

"I'll take you up on that," Olivia said with a small smile.

His mother eyed Eddie and Rafael. "I already know you two won't turn down a coffee, so I'm not even going to ask."

He gave a little snort. "Thanks, Ma."

"Yeah," Eddie said without missing a beat. "Thanks."

As his mother walked away, María Elena eyed Rafael. "Deja de estar comiendo de lo que pica el pollo." She paused a second. "Sigue siendo tu tío, Papito." (Stop acting like a fool. He's still your uncle, Papito.)

He nodded. "Lo sé. Eso fue bastante injusto de mi parte. Me doy cuenta de eso." (I know. That was rather unfair of me. I do realize that.)

They finished their coffee and his mother kept running in and out of the kitchen. The house smelt amazing, as it so often did. His mother really was a phenomenal cook.

Eventually, Olivia fed Sofía and put her down for a nap, everyone sitting down for lunch. Vaca frita, congrí, fufú, and fried sweet plantains. The fufú definitely upending the platanitos maduros ever so slightly as his favourite. It had been a while since he'd had vaca frita so he'd really enjoyed that as well.

She'd also started on some lechón to use in a few dishes later on, and he was definitely intending to steal some off of her for sandwiches to take to work.

They chatted animatedly for a while and then several of them started playing a round of dominos over coffee, music playing softly in the background, the kids eventually joining them as they switched to cards.

"Ugh, how did you get so good, Tío?" Sebastián muttered as Rafael won the game for the second time in a row.

"Good question," Noah chimed in, fond amusement in his voice.

He chuckled at that. "Lots of practice." He smiled as several of his happier childhood memories came to mind. "Abuelo Nene was all about the card games."

"Rafi always was an odd one," María Elena said, looking at Rafael fondly. "Siempre preferiste los libros y los juegos a ir a fiestas como los otros adolescentes." (You always preferred books and games to parties like the other teenagers.)

"Y la boca que tenías sobre ti, incluso entonces, no ayudó," his mother said. "Los problemas siempre parecían encontrarte." (And the mouth you had on you, even then, didn't help any. Trouble always seemed to find you.)

He gave a little snort. "No era una persona sociable." (I wasn't a people person.)

"Todavía no lo eres, de verdad," Olivia quipped. (You're still not, really.)

"Bueno, trato con muchos imbéciles en el trabajo," he said with a side-eyed look. (Well, I deal with a lot of morons at work.)

His mother rolled her eyes and looked at Oliva. "Don't let him fool you. He was a good kid, but even he was far from immune to teenage stupidity."

"And had the black eyes to prove it," he said with a snort.

"Oh, I know," Olivia said with a light chuckle, an amused twinkle in her eyes. "I've gotten a few good stories out of him and Eddie here."

"And I'll thank you to take those to the grave," Rafael deadpanned.

Olivia shook her head in amusement. "As long as you promise to do the same with a few of mine."

He crinkled his nose happily. "You strike a hard bargain, but I'll take that deal."


	122. Chapter 122

"¡Me cago en diez!" Rafael hissed in frustration as he tried to pick up the papers that had ended up in complete disarray. "Noah James," Rafael said, raising his voice, something he greatly disliked doing, "you know not to touch my papers!" (Shit!)

The aforementioned boy made his way down to Rafael's study office and glanced up at Rafael a bit guiltily. "Sorry, Papi. I just..."

"Look at this mess," he said, irritation still slipping into his voice slightly as he gestured to the aforementioned disarray.

"I was trying to get the book and -" The boy trailed off nervously.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose harder than was probably necessary and taking a deep breath. He didn't remotely want to lose his temper with his son and knew it wasn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, even if it was a bit of a pain in his ass at the moment. "Está bien," he said as calmly as possible. "Just be more careful next time, okay, Mijo?" (It's fine.)

Noah gave him a small smile, nodding. "I will. Lo prometo." (I promise.)

He nodded, shooting the boy a small smile. Then he stepped forward, ruffling the boy's hair playfully. "Es todo lo que pido." (That's all I ask.)

Noah helped him pick up the papers, and Rafael quickly reorganized the papers, placing them back in his briefcase and heading out of his study with his son, locking the door behind them. Thank God they'd all woken up earlier than usual.

They'd just wrapped up a rather 'high emotions' case.

The police held an undercover sting operation on the train. They had heard about a new groper and so they staged several female detectives on this one train. These women waited. They were all assaulted by this one perp and so they made their move. They tried to arrest the guy and he ran. He ran into the crowd. He smashed up his phone and he threw it onto the tracks. He also began shouting police brutality when the police finally did catch him. The perp created such a stink that he ended up causing a riot and the police were attacked on their way of the station.

The perp's name was Duane Varick. He later pretended he bumped into the women accidentally and he knew the police had nothing on him. He completely ruined his cell phone. The police couldn't use that against him and so they tried looking for his other devices. They found out he worked with ICE. They knew that was Homeland Security's territory and so they played it safe. They went directly to Duane's boss. They went to Rory O'Toole and they asked him for his permission to check Duane's work computer.

O'Toole gladly gave it to them. There were many pictures on his computer that the detectives threatened to use it against him and so Duane lashed out. He cursed O'Toole's name. He said O'Toole only gave them his computer because he didn't want the police checking his own and so that's when Duane talked to his lawyer. It turns out he had his own story to tell. Duane alleged that O'Toole is abusing his right as an Immigration Attorney and using it to force women to have sex with him. O'Toole would threaten their visas if these women didn't comply.

Duane named names. SVU tried to talk to them and these women didn't want to go on record. They were all married. They didn't want to risk their marriages over what happened and so Olivia put together another string operation. This time she had two detectives pretending to be a newly married couple. The husband would need a green card and his wife is willing to do anything to keep him out of the deportation center. The detectives would be the perfect victims for someone like O'Toole.

The detectives played the part. They got O'Toole to fall for it and they arrested him the moment he tried to coerce a woman into sex. SVU arrested O'Toole for sexual extortion. They thought they had him dead to rights and so imagine Rafael's surprise when O'Toole's lawyer claimed O'Toole was merely testing them. The man was claiming that he knew the marriage was fake. He tested the wife to see if she would cheat and if she did then it couldn't be a real marriage. O'Toole was saying all of this because he knew the other women wouldn't come forward. And he was, unfortunately, right about that little fact.

O'Toole went after married women. He knew they wouldn't want their husbands to find out and the only one that had rejected him was awaiting deportation. She was also the only one willing to come forward. She alleged that O'Toole had sent her a message on her phone and she thought that her husband still had her phone. The detectives went to speak to the husband and that's when they found out that the husband was secretly sleeping with a man while his wife was locked up. And so they found out that her marriage really was fake.

Naturally, Rafael couldn't use that woman. The detectives tried finding another victim, and they did. They found Lina Vasquez-Boyd. Her husband had found out what was being said about O'Toole and he tried asking Lina about it. It seems Boyd's first wife had cheated on him. He was therefore paranoid about it happening again and he was taking it out on Lina. Lina's husband was checking her phone as well as following her sometimes. He was even getting abusive and so Olivia promised to help Lina. Help her so that she could leave her husband and not be deported.

Lina agreed to testify in exchange for help. She was all set to do it and then at the last minute, she pulled out because she learned she was pregnant. She didn't want her husband to think the baby wasn't his and so he could, in her mind, never know what happened. Lina chose her family and unfortunately that left Rafael without any corroborating witness. Rafael had tried in vain to push for more time. They didn't have much in the way of evidence and so they went back to an earlier victim that rejected them. They returned to her because this time they needed her help and they weren't afraid to tell her husband for her.

Thankfully, Rosamie Klein's husband was kind. He understood why she did what she did and he supported her as she agreed to testify. Just having her on board was enough to scare O'Toole. The man and his lawyer later agreed to take a plea deal. He confessed to three separate counts of Rape in the Third. He was going to do fifteen years and he'd never be in a position to hurt another woman. And so the squad did rather well, by all accounts.

It should have been an easy case to leave at him but all he could think about was his abuela, tía, and mother. Think about how easily they could have been taken advantage of by scum like O'Toole when they'd fled Cuba for a better life.

Then, everyone was freaking out over the Corona Virus which was becoming a bit of an epidemic. The number of confirmed cases in New York City was now thirty-six. That was sixteen new cases since yesterday.

Still, despite the stress, he didn't need to take out the irritation on Noah over a simple mistake. It wasn't Noah's fault.

Olivia, who was feeding their little girl, eyed him with slight concern as the pair walked into the dining area. "You two okay?"

"Yes," he said, "just a little accident. It's dealt with." He played with Sofía for a moment, getting Sofía to giggle happily.

Olivia eyed him pointedly, not dropping the subject. "Okay." She glanced between the two of them and pushed Rafael's coffee towards him. He gave her a warm smile as he nodded his thanks and she turned her attention to their son. "We're out of cheerios, so it'll be raisin bran this morning."

"I don't want cereal," Noah said, a whiny lilt to his voice. "I want tortilla de platanito."

Olivia gently eyed the seven-year-old. "Manners, Noah."

"Sorry, Mama." His son now eyed him. "Please, Papi? Por favor."

He checked the time. "Sure, Mijo." He took another sip of his coffee. "But you have to eat and not fool around when they're ready, understood?"

The boy nodded enthusiastically. "Thank you!"

He chuckled. "You're welcome. Do you want one, Liv?"

"No," she said, "but thank you, Rafa. I already ate. I will take a coffee refill, however, if you don't mind."

"Anything for m'lady," he quipped back as he turned to go.

His wife rolled her eyes fondly as he walked to the kitchen to go grab a coffee for his wife and cook some tortillas de platanito for both his son and himself. Thankfully, they didn't take too long to make, or he really wouldn't have had the time.

They ate and Rafael cleaned up while Olivia changed Sofía and chatted with Lucy. They then said their goodbyes and Rafael headed to arraignment court, leaving Olivia to drop Noah off at school.

"Have a good day, you little rascal." He gave the boy a warm smile as he spoke.

"I will," Noah replied, smiling back. "Te quiero, Papi." (I love you, Papi.)

"Quiero que sepas que te quiero también, Mijo." He looked at his son in the eyes as he spoke. "Lo siento por gritarte antes." (I want you to know I love you too, Mijo. I'm sorry about yelling earlier.)

"Está bien, Papi." His son wrapped his small arms around him for a hug, smiling up at Rafael, as he spoke. (It's okay, Papi.)


	123. Chapter 123

Arraignment Court, and Rafael's other hearings that morning, went well, but his afternoon took an interesting turn.

He'd had a working lunch and a meeting with Rita Calhoun regarding a deal for a misdemeanour case, dealt with some of his ADAs' cases, and then tried to get through some of the reports on his desk.

He did get a text from an old friend, Alistair, that morning who he had just recently gotten back in touch with. Alister had messaged him a couple weeks ago, he'd replied back, and the conversation sort of took off from there, them catching up slightly and making plans to talk in the near future when Rafael's hectic schedule allowed.

They went way back, and although they weren't exceptionally close any longer, both having gone their own ways, they'd remained friends of a sort, keeping in touch off-and-on over the years.

By the afternoon of March 17, however, a father, stepmother, and a pair of step-grandparents were facing attempted murder charges.

The police had been called to an elementary school in Chelsea to investigate possible child abuse. The responding officers, along with the 16th's SVU detectives, began a coordinated investigation in collaboration with ACS and confirmed numerous elements of child abuse and child neglect.

The child was, unfortunately, deemed to have suffered significant physical injuries and health issues as a result of the abuse.

Medical attention was, of course, swiftly provided for the seven-year-old child, but the young boy no doubt had a long road of recovery in front of him.

As a result of their investigation, the parties involved - the child's 31-year-old father, Travis Lynch, 28-year-old stepmother Andrea Marshall, 51-year-old step-grandmother Janie Marshall and 53-year-old step-grandfather Bryce Marshall - were all being charged pending a hearing Rafael had pushed hard to get for the next day.

He intended to charge all four suspects with attempted first-degree murder, felony conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, felony conspiracy to commit felony child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury, and three counts of felony child abuse inflicting serious bodily injuries.

Lynch and Andrea Marshall were arrested within the hour and, as of four o'clock Janie and Bryce Marshall were arrested, all of them being held in The Tombs.

He hated cases with kids, for reasons that were more than obvious in his opinion, but was more than a little glad that someone had found out what the boy was going through before it was too late.

That being said, he couldn't deny how happy he was to finally walk through the front doors of his home shortly after six o'clock that evening.

Especially because he'd had a brief meeting with Mayor de Blasio that afternoon that he was super happy about.

The house smelled amazing, and, taking his shoes off, he was immediately greeted by his seven-year-old throwing his arms around him, chattering happily about something that happened at school that day.

He chuckled the stress from the day washing away as he hugged the boy back. "It's good to see you too, Mijo." He waited a moment before pulling back and giving his wife a quick kiss. "And you as well, gorgeous wife of mine."

She smiled, softly before giving him another quick peck on the lips. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Romeo."

His mother, presumably having now made her way out of the kitchen, walked up to him and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Hola, Mami. When did you get here?"

"An hour or so ago," his mother said with a smile. She glanced at Noah. "We played some lego and Noah helped with dinner. Isn't that right, nietecito?"

The boy nodded proudly. "Uh-huh."

"Fantástico," he said. "What did you two make?"

"Costillas de puerco con moros y maduros," his mother explained. "Apparently, he's developed a thing for plátanos maduros." She raised an eyebrow. "No muy diferente de su padre." (Not unlike his father.)

He just smirked back at her in not so quiet amusement. "This coming from the woman who once said I had una paleta gringuito."

His mother rolled her eyes affectionately. "I stand by that statement. At the time, hijo mío, you were frankly a bit pretencioso."

He gave a little snort but conceded the point. "Fair enough, Ma."

Noah eyed them both, clearly entertained. "You two are silly."

He ruffled the boy's hair. "Takes one to know one."

Noah gave a little whine. "Paaapi."

Rafael shook his head, amused, and inquired about the rest of his mother's day and taking advantage of her penchant for gossip to find out what was going on with his relatives. He'd talked to several recently, but his mother definitely came in handy with learning some of the crazier antics.

They chatted for a while and then sat down for dinner, which, unsurprisingly, was amazing. He really needed to get a few more family recipes off of his mother, because she and abuelita were phenomenal cooks.

His mother sat down opposite Rafael and Olivia and Noah were seated on either side of him. Sofía was on his knee, but Olivia took her after the baby girl was fed so that Rafael could then eat.

The usual Barba-Benson table conversation began, ranging in diverse topics that always made their dinners fun and interesting. His mother was definitely academically inclined and could and would chat about anything, something Rafael got from her and Olivia had a fair amount of herself. Noah participated whenever he could, asking different questions and adding his own little comments here and there, but was rather busy shovelling his face with food. Not that Rafael could blame him.

He put his cup down and glanced around. "So, I have some news," he said pointedly, a small smile playing on his lips. It was good news, but it would be interesting to see how his mother would take it.

_"When I was seven... When I was seven, my mom said, 'stick with Alex. He'll be mayor of New York someday.'"_

_"Wow."_

_"She never said that about me."_

His mother had come a long way since that conversation, but there had definitely times over the years when he felt like he wasn't good enough.

When she actually told him a while back that she was proud of him, that had been huge for Rafael, who more often than not felt that she wasn't. Unintentionally, he was sure. He knew she loved him dearly, but the little, seemingly innocuous, comments that she made added up... he'd kind of internalized their message. Which given what his father called Rafael left very little of the why to surprise.

Such a stark contrast to his grandmother.

_"Ah," his grandmother said, glancing from Rafael to his mother. "I see you brought El Juez."_

_"Abuelita," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, "I'm not a judge."_

_"You will be," she said, smiling warmly up at him. "To what do I owe the honour?"_

She'd provided such unconditional love his entire life. Losing her had been horrible, but even when they were at odds before he passed, he never for one second doubted how she felt about him.

His grandmother was the main reason why he even made it through high school to begin with. Rafael had almost dropped out before senior year to support his mother. He'd needed to, but Abuelita had ripped up the papers and did everything she and his Abuelo could so that Rafael knew his mother was taken care of and could finish school. He remembered what she said that day. _"You're brilliant, nietecito. You're smart. You have a year and a half left and if anyone can get a scholarship, it's you. You could be something. Don't throw away that chance, Rafael. Don't. Finish school. Let me and your Abuelo worry about Lucía."_

When he'd finally graduated she'd been the proudest one there, and that pride was only to be matched when Rafael showed her his Harvard acceptance letter.

Everyone looked at him and his mother raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Oh?"

"I applied for the Criminal Court position last week," he said softly. "I also talked with De Blasio today. With Judge Milbanks stepping down at the end of this term..." He spoke more firmly now. "I officially leave for Judge School in the first week of January."

A week in White Plains, New York, attending the Legal Bootcamp at New York State Judicial Institute and, if everything went smoothly from now until then, he'd be taking the bench.

His mother shot up from her chair, walking over to him, and his wife looked obscenely proud. Noah was just inquisitive, muttering something in Olivia's ears. Noah then smiled happily, presumably now understanding what Rafael was talking about.

His mother threw her arms around him. "¡Qué maravilloso, Rafi! That's absolutely fantastic." She gave a funny little gesture. "And you'll do just fine at training, I am sure." She pulled him in for another hug and spoke in a low tone meant for her son's ears only. "Felicidades, _El Juez."_

He smiled and spoke just as softly. "Gracias, Mami."

_You will be._


	124. Chapter 124

They'd been up for a half-hour and were already showered and dressed, so the couple was sitting at the kitchen table, each having a cup of coffee while one read the New York Times and the other played quietly with Sofía.

Thankfully, it was Saturday, and neither of them had gotten called into work for anything, which meant they were actually able to relax after a rather stressful week.

**First coronavirus-related death reported in New York**

_The coronavirus claimed its first victim in New York this weekend, bringing more focus on the Big Apple._

_Across the state, 524 cases have been reported._

_An 82-year-old woman who tested positive for coronavirus died in a New York City hospital Friday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on a media conference call Saturday._

_It was the state's first coronavirus-related death._

_The woman was "long-suffering with emphysema," Cuomo said._

_She was admitted to the hospital last week and had been in critical condition ever since, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement._

He sighed as he glanced down at the paper. The situation was really getting out of control, in Rafael's opinion.

Broadway had recently gone dark, and museums and other tourist venues in the city were also deeply affected as Cuomo had directed that events in New York with more than 500 people be cancelled or postponed.

On the next page, New York-Presbyterian hospitals were announcing that all elective procedures and surgeries would be postponed until further notice, effective Monday. Something that didn't come as a surprise, unfortunately.

As in other cities, shoppers had cleared shelves of many grocery stores, the previous panicked shopping frenzies by a large portion of people forcing those who _could_ to stock up just so they had some basic supplies as they wouldn't be able to get any otherwise.

Now, De Blasio had said at a news conference the day prior that he wanted to keep the city's schools open for as long as possible, but they weren't sure how long that was going to last. The reality was his mother was probably going to find herself temporarily out of work in short order.

Still, they were just trying to go about life as normal as possible and hope that things would actually start to improve soon. Not that federal administration was doing a hell of a lot to help matters, save for shutting down European flights.

He took a sip of his café con leche and looked up at his wife. "Well, this certainly isn't going to help with the panic buying."

His wife gave a little snort. "Remind me again how toilet paper is supposed to help?"

He made a vague gesture. "God only knows." He noticed her fidgeting with Sofía slightly, the baby girl refusing to calm. He took another sip of his coffee and held his hands out towards his wife. "Liv, pass Sof here for a bit so you can drink your coffee."

"Alright," she said with a small smile.

The eight-month-old babbled happily as she was seated on his lap and he started gently bouncing her on his knee, trying to hold on to her small stuffed bunny that his mother had bought for her some time go.

The little girl had gotten especially attached to it recently. She was 17.5 pounds of clinginess when it came to the teddy, but it was honestly rather endearing.

She'd recently started crawling as well, so it was becoming interesting to keep an eye on her as she'd try and take off on a whim if something caught her attention.

"Am I crazy for considering pulling Noah from school?" Olivia asked.

Olivia wasn't the only one getting worried about the children. And honestly, it was more than justified. Sofía was young and very vulnerable and Noah had had horrible respiratory issues when he was younger. He knew Carisi and Rollins were fairing little better, though, given little Billie and Jesse. Carisi had a young niece as well.

And, Rafael, had to admit to himself, his mother was getting up there in age as well, making her more vulnerable to the sickness as well. She was intending to retire at the end of the school year, but he'd prefer that to be because of choice and not health problems. He hadn't really grieved his father's passing, but the mere thought of losing his mother put a knot in his chest.

He eyed her. "You're not crazy Not with the bout of pneumonia he had as an infant and his other respiratory issues. And, if Sofía were to be exposed..." his voice trailed off. "We should wait a bit longer, as the schools might all close anyway, but if in a couple of weeks the situation doesn't improve I agree we should pull him."

Noah would be disappointed, especially if the school play was cancelled, but at this point, it came down to health and safety. It was what it was.

She nodded. "Glad you don't think I'm overreacting."

He gave her a soft smile. "Never."

Just then they heard a slightly muffled yawn and their seven-year-old walked in with some serious bedhead, still in his pyjamas. "Mornin'."

He gave the boy a small smile. "Good morning."

"Morning, sleepyhead," Olivia said, hugging Noah when he leaned into her for a quick snuggle, clearly not completely awake. "I'm hungry."

"How about I make some pancakes?" Olivia suggested, "and we ask your dad, really nicely, to go get some apple juice and milk? I believe we're almost out."

Noah hummed happily, snuggling into his mother. "Please, Papi."

Rafael chuckled, standing up. "I'll run to the bodega down the street and shouldn't be too long. We have everything for lunch, right?"

Carisi and the Rollinses were coming over for lunch later, everyone planning to have a BBQ and let Jesse and Noah have the playdate they've been asking for lately. And, of course, both Rafael and Olivia wanted to see their goddaughter.

The fourteen-month-old was walking now and definitely had an interesting personality, getting into everything under the sun. She was a sweetie, but definitely just wanted to go, go, go! Preferring to walk than be held.

"Yes," she said, not missing a beat. "But if you could grab stuff for dinner?"

"Sure," he said, wracking his brain for something he could make. Eventually, he settled on masitas de puerco, moros, and yuca, something he couldn't recall making them before, but figured Noah would like. "Do we still have pork?"

"No," she said, "I used the last of it on the stir-fry the other day."

He nodded. "Okay. I'll grab some while I'm out."

Noah looked at him, smiling, as the boy moved away from Olivia, standing up straight. Rafael walked over to Olivia, passing Sofía to her and going to grab his wallet and house keys.

He heard his wife call out from behind him. "Thank you!"

He raised his right hand, keys in hand, in acknowledgment as he walked to the entranceway to throw his shoes on and head to West 82nd Grocery. It was more than reasonably close to where they lived so he closed and locked the door to the home behind him and walked to the store.


	125. Chapter 125

Monday morning came too soon for the Barba-Benson household, and Rafael didn't have to wait long before he was called down to the 1-6.

It had been a good weekend, Sunday being rather calm, them merely going to his mother's for brunch - arroz con pollo, naturally - after Mass and spending the majority of the day there as a family.

He'd had two hearings that morning, respectively for the Marshall-Lynch and O'Toole cases, and then had to deal with some issues with his ADAS, two of which were being put under quarantine for two weeks due to exposure to relatives who had caught COVID-19.

He hadn't been terribly surprised someone from his office was exposed as the numbers grew, but it hadn't stopped him from groaning at all the overtime he was looking at.

He'd then had to converse with several other ADAs regarding their cases, getting briefed, and handling some minor issues with conduct that had come up. He'd quickly eaten the lunch he'd brought from home and then had needed to reschedule a meeting with Jack McCoy, when, after replying to a couple of e-mails, Olivia called him, asking him to come down to the precinct, but not ending the call before letting him know something that had gone down earlier when she'd been walking Noah to his, surprisingly not yet shut down, dance class.

He frowned when he heard what Noah had told Olivia early. "Jake's older brother? Vaping in fifth grade?"

She audibly sighed. "In the school bathroom with three other boys."

His frown deepened. "Was it just tobacco?"

"I didn't think to ask," his wife muttered over the phone. "I mean, I'm not worried. He... he would never."

"Mm-hmm."

"What?"

"Nothing," he said. "I know you already talked to him, but I'll talk to the kid when I get home tonight." He shook his head despite the fact that she couldn't see it. "At least he knows the boy got suspended. Hopefully, that'll help hammer the message home."

Now it was her turn to hum.

"Relax, Liv," he said, trying to reassure her. "Noah's a good kid. It'll be fine."

"I know," she said, sounding a bit more relaxed. "I'll see you soon."

"See you soon, Cariño."

"See you soon."

Ending the call, he'd thrown on his black suit vest, tucking his red tie under it, told Carmen where he was going, and then swiftly made his way out of 1 Hogan Place.

"So, what've you got for me?" he asked immediately upon entering the squad room.

"Well, it's a bit of a mess," Rollins admitted. The woman sighed. "It's my sister."

"What happened?"

"Well, I -" Rollins went on to explain that she'd been going for a run before she went to the doctor's. She had been running on a bad knee, knowingly, and ended up having to have it drained earlier. During her appointment, she missed a call from her sister, Kim, who said she failed a drug test. She told Rollins that she needed advice. Apparently, her sister then asked a woman to watch her young child, Mason, when she ran to the bathroom.

"Wait!" he said, "since when does your sister have a kid?"

"Finding out I'm an aunt was a surprise to me too," Rollins muttered, before continuing with the story. She hadn't seen her sister in three years prior to this.

Apparently, once Kim Rollins went to the aforementioned bathroom, she took drugs, no longer sober, and ended up overdosing.

Rollins then got a call and immediately headed to the hospital. Kim told her sister that she was probably going to jail and needed legal help. She explained the situation and asked if maybe her sister could get her a deal.

At that point, Rollins contacted Olivia. She told her how Kim claimed her doctor had been extorting her for sex. Fin and Olivia met with Kim who, although surprised her sister wasn't there, told them how she was given oxy by her doctor before he had sex with her in exchange for the pills.

Tamin and Fin then went to talk to Kim. She claimed her doctor gave himself a shot '_down there'_ while telling her to take off her clothes. They allegedly then had sex before he finally gave her a prescription. She claimed it happened at least twelve times.

Just then, Rollins' phone rang and she, apologizing, walked over to her desk to take the phone call.

"Dealing with a junkie is like playing Russian roulette," he muttered once he was sure that the blonde detective was out of earshot.

"Amanda should just cut Kim off," Olivia said softly. "That's what I did to my brother."

"If this guy is as bad as Kim says," Fin chimed in, "we need to put him away."

Rafael sighed. "_If_ being the keyword."

It wasn't much longer before Tamin and Carisi walked up, Rollins following close behind them.

"Update on Paul Capezio?" the captain inquired.

"Orthopedist," Carisi explained. Lost his hospital affiliation when St. Vincent's closed. He lost his private practice a few years after that."

"Now he sublets an exam room in a medical suite in the West 30s," Tamin chimed in, "keeps odd hours."

"And what about his prescriptions?" Rafael inquired.

"Still putting that together," Tamin admitted. "He was sanctioned a year ago. Hard to tell how many patients he's got because he doesn't file electronically."

Olivia gave them a questioning look. "How does he pull that off?"

"He's got an eyesight and age exemption," Carisi explained.

"And according to Kim," Rafael said, "he extorts sex from women who need Oxy? No offence, but do we actually think she's credible?"

"Down to the ED injection that he gave himself while Kim was taking her clothes off," Olivia pointed out. "Now, she's volunteered to go undercover."

He shook his head. "That's not happening."

"Well, I can go," Tamin suggested. "Have Kim vouch for me."

"It's easier if I go," Rollins chimes in. "I'm her sister. Capezio will trust me. I got the knee the size of a grapefruit. All I have to do is bring the x-rays with me."

Carisi eyed his fiancée, his expression showing clearly just what he thought of that brilliant idea. "Amanda -"

"I don't like this," Fin agreed.

"Then you go with her, Fin," the captain suggested without missing a beat. "We need to get this doctor off the street."

"And if I get enough for an arrest," Rollins said, shifting her weight slightly, "what does this mean for Kim and her son?"

"Counsellor," Olivia inquired, turning to better face him, "will a judge ROR Kim?"

"I can ask," he said, "but custody's a separate issue. And I have to say, Kim getting her son back at this point isn't in Mason's best interest."

"I'll file for custody," Rollins said softly, "but until then... He's my nephew, guys, I can't have him at social services."

They all just nodded, making a plan for Rollins' meeting with the so-called doctor, having her book an appointment with the doctor for the following day.

Satisfied that the situation was under control, Rafael headed back to his office to try and get as much work as possible done, texting his mother to ask her to relieve Lucy as both of them were likely to work late that night.

He was relieved when he rapidly got a text back._ '¡Claro! Sabes que me encanta pasar tiempo con mis nietecitos__, Mijo. Ven a casa cuando puedas.' (Of course!_ You know I love spending time with my grand-babies, Mijo. Come home when you can.)

Relieved that the children were dealt with, he pulled out some of his files, diving headfirst into the mountain of work he had.

When he finally headed home that evening he knew that the children had been asleep for some time, but was happy to see both his mother and wife sitting on the couch chatting about something or other.

He greeted them, and, needing to relax after a rather long day, he poured himself a drink and sat down, starting to chat amicably with two of his favourite women.


	126. Chapter 126

The next morning was a little hectic. They'd received word that all public schools would officially be closed until at least April 20, after the upcoming spring break, with the unfortunate possibility of staying closed for significantly longer. Needless to say, most private schools were following suit.

The goal was to have distance education up and running within a week, the children getting their education online.

Discussing it, both he and Olivia decided to have Lucy come in as usual, but Rafael did decide to check in with his mother and see if she needed anything. She suggested taking the kids for the later half of the day to not only give Lucy a slight reprieve from looking after two kids but to give her something to do as well.

The new situation, for the time being, was staff members still going in and out of schools and making lesson plans for their pupils, so his mother did have some work to do, but the large majority of it would be entirely done from home.

Neither he or Olivia were surprised to find out Noah was excited about an extended vacation, regardless of the reasons why. Typical kid.

As far as work went, it'd been fine for the most part. His last motion hearing that morning could certianly have gone a bit better, but, to be fair, he'd expected the judge to rule in the defence's favour before he even walked into court. He _understood_, but that didn't mean he _liked_ it. Still, he'd mostly expected the outcome, and his other two hearings had gone very much in his favour.

When Olivia knocked on his door at a quarter to twelve, he hadn't exactly known what to expect. He was pleased to learn, however, that the little undercover operation of Rollins' had gone off without a hitch, and that the sorry excuse for a man was currently being held in The Tombs, while the captain and sergeant showed him the video feed that they'd gotten.

If he had his way, and was honest with himself, the so-called doctor wouldn't be processed until the following day. The more vindictive part of Rafael wanted to let the man stew over everything for a good while.

He pushed that thought down though and focused on the video footage.

_"Ah! Kim's sister," the doctor said, not long after she'd been led into the backroom, "As pretty as she is."_

_Rollins forced a small smile. "Thank you."_

_The esteemed doctor looked at the x-rays. "Hmm, ah, yes. There's a lot of bone on bone here. Arthritis." He eyed her. "I bet that smarts."_

_"None of the over-the-counter stuff even makes a dent," they saw and heard Rollins admit over the video feed, "but Kim said the Oxy works really well."_

_"All right," the man said, "and, uh, she told you how this works?" _

_"You mean the sex?" Rollins said rather more matter-of-factly then Rafael expected her to. "Yeah. But how many pills can I get?"_

_"Well, you're allowed a week's supply at a time," the doctor quickly replied, voice calmer now, "but if you have different ID, we get around that. Just take them to small pharmacies. My assistant has a list. Now, uh, just lie back on the table, pull up your skirt, and, uh, I'll be right with you."_

_"Excuse me!" Rollins called out a couple of moments later. The doctor seemed to be taking his sweet time, which wasn't the worst thing if they wanted back-up to be able to intervene. "Hey! So how much time do you need?"_

_"Soon," they heard the so-called doctor reply. "You'll be glad you waited."_

He eyed Olivia. "How far did he get?"

"She's fine," Olivia assured him. Of course, he logically knew that, but he did relax some when she verbalized it. "Just watch."

Trusting her, he easily turned his attention back to the screen. Sure enough, only moments later Tamin and Fin were bursting through the door an into the room.

_"Needle down," Fin called out, looking rather angry. Rafael couldn't blame the guy, honestly. "Hands up."_

_"I'm sorry, Dr. Capezio," the secretary exclaimed as her and the SVU detectives all burst into the room. "They're cops."_

_"What's this about?" the doctor said, clearly concerned. _

_"Like you don't know," Fin scoffed. "__Zip up. You're going downtown."_

_Tamin grabbed the doctor. "Hands behind your back." She quickly cuffed him, guiding him out of the room. "Let's go."_

Closing his laptop, he glanced at the NYPD captain, pleased with the detective's work that afternoon. "That couldn't have gone much better."

She smiled, tilting her head slightly as she did so. "Agreed. We've got him."

He tilted his head to the side slightly. "Set up a meeting, and we'll get this dealt with. Hopefully, sooner rather than later."

"Before that, however," she said, "how about some lunch?"

"Sounds good to me," he said, leaning in to give her a quick kiss.

When they separated, the couple started pulled out and rummaging around in their respective lunch boxes that they'd decided to start bringing to work with everything that was going on.

After they ate, the pair went their separate ways, Rafael throwing himself fully into the files on his desk, hoping he'd actually make it home by a reasonable hour.

He got pulled into several impromptu meetings with various ADAs and defence attorneys, but most of that happened over the phone and he'd been able to multi-task some, meaning he hadn't fallen quite so behind.

He then gave McCoy an update on the more important aspects and threw himself back into managing his files.

He'd barely realized what time it was when seven o'clock finally rolled around and Carmen, who had got pulled into a fair amount of overtime herself, popped into to say she was heading home, suggesting that, after the previous late night, he went home.

"Is that an order?" he deadpanned.

"A strongly tempered suggestion," she quipped, a small smirk on her face as she turned around to walk out the door.

He shook his head, amused. "Give me a minute and I'll walk you down. I just have to grab some things." Tonight was definitely going to be a work in the study until who-knows-when night, once the kid's were in bed, but, at least he'd been able to steal a couple of hours with his family.

He quickly scanned his desk, thankfully for the years of hands-on organizational training that he'd gotten in his time practicing law. He grabbed a small stack off to the side which was composed of files that were priority at the present time.

Throwing on his suit vest, and grabbing his set of keys out of the top drawer of his desk, he led the way out of office, bundle of manila folders firmly in hand.

Given home many people were now staying home, traffic was light and Rafael was walking through the doors of the townhouse in no time at all.

As he opened the front door, the smell of cooking immediately flooded his nostrils. It smelled like roasted potatoes and Swedish meatballs, if he had to take a guess. He started to take his shoes off when Noah threw himself at him. "Papi, you're home!"

"I am," he said, ruffling the young boy's hair, a warm smile showing on his face. "Cómo estuvo tu día, Mijo?" (How was your day, Mijo?)

"¡Muy divertido!" Noah quickly exclaimed with no shortage of enthusiasm. "Jugué muchos juegos de mesa y horneé un poco con Lucy. Abuelita y yo hicimos monstruos de cajas de pañuelos y medusa de plato de papel." (So much fun! I played lots of board games and did some baking with Lucy. Abuelita and I made tissue box monsters and paper plate jellyfish.)

"Me alegro de que te hayas divertido." (I'm glad you had fun.)

Olivia walked out of the kitchen, glancing at both of them fondly. "Dinner's ready boys. Hurry and go wash up."

"Vamos, hombrecito." With that, he grabbed Noah, gently swinging him onto his shoulders and walking towards the bathroom. (Come on, little man.)


	127. Chapter 127

Waking up Wednesday, they largely went about their usual routine. Rafael had been uo until one o'clock in the morning, managing his files, the night before, but it wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last. He just downed some coffee, and Olivia made a quick breakfast while Rafael got Sofía dressed before sitting down with his family to eat while they waited for Lucy to arrive so they could leave for work.

Noah not having school yet again, hadn't wanted to get dressed, but Rafael had made him get dressed anyway before he grabbed his briefcase out of his study and headed to court. He had the Marshall-Lynch grand jury first thing that morning, and it went as well as Rafael could've hoped.

He had a teacher, another relative of the victim, and the school nurse testify to things they'd seen and heard. The child, who a judge determined was competent, also testified via closed-circuit camera.

The foster-parents hadn't wanted to subject the child to his abusers and that was the only way they'd agree for the boy to testify. He wanted to work with them, not just subpoena the boy and make things harder for the kid. He actually agreed with the foster-parents in this case.

He'd gotten the indictments that he'd wanted, all around, and was out of court little after two o'clock that afternoon. He managed to deal with a few work emails and then he had Capezio and his attorney finally brought in to deal with another mess.

"Well, this is entrapment," Counsellor Ron Freddo said. "My client is a respected member of the medical community."

"Don't even try," Fin said. "He's a pusher. These women were addicted." The sergeant leaned forward slightly. "That's rape."

"Rape?" the man said, "It's barter. Uh, dinners, a deal on dry cleaning." Rafael just knew his thoughts regarding that comment were showing on his face, but didn't particularly care. Moron. "These people are in pain, I help them. These victims are addicts and liars."

Rafael sighed, glancing at Olivia. "What else do we have beside the video tape?"

"His assistant flipped on him," the captain explained. "She showed us his appointment logs, his accounting ledgers. There are at least twelve women, who Capezio doesn't take money from."

"So, we tack on criminal drug diversion and healthcare fraud," Rafael said, "we got a solid case. Baring you keep Kim under control."

"-and we wouldn't have it if Kim hadn't come forward," Carisi pointed out.

Rafael had to give the blond that. "True" He sighed. "I'll call her parole officer," Rafael said after a moment. "We get the right judge on this, she can get an ankle-bracelet release, pending trial."

"What about her two-year-old son?" Olivia asked.

He heaved another sigh. "She abandoned him while she got high," he said tersely. "I'm not lobbying for custody."

"Understood," Olivia conceded. "So, I'm -"

Rafael looked at Carisi. "Your fiancée still wants custody, right?"

The blond nodded. "She's adamant."

"Good."

"Okay," Olivia said, "so I'm going to call and bring the DEA in on this -"

He was about to agree and tell her to go ahead when a thought struck him. "Wait," he said, still wracking his brain for what to do. "Hold off on calling the DEA. Capezio's a small-time sextortionist -"

Olivia eyed him. "Who belongs in prison."

"I agree," he shot back. "But do we think he's the only doctor doing this?"

"Isn't that up to the DEA and Narcotics to pursue?" Olivia pointed out.

"The DEA? Narcotics?" he said. "They don't know how to run a sex crimes investigation. We call them in, they'll go after the pills-for-pay, these victims -"

"They'll get pushed under the rug," she said knowingly.

"Exactly," he replied. "This is still our case. We have leverage, here, now. Let's see where this takes us and go on a little fishing expedition."

Carisi shrugged. "He has a point."

"Okay," she agreed, "then let's go fishing." Recognizing the look on his face, she smirked. "And please make it hurt."

He just chuckled and starting walking into the interrogation room with her.

"Fin, Kat, give us the room?" Olivia requested without missing a beat.

"Sure," Officer Tamin said.

"Whatever you need, Captain," came Fin's reply.

As the officer and sergeant made their way out of the room, Rafael walked around the table, standing right in front of the 'good doctor.'

"What's going on?" Dr. Capezio questioned.

"Dr. Capezio," he said. "I'm Executive Assistant District Attorney Rafael Barba, Bureau Chief for Special Victims. In addition to grand larceny, fraud, and prescription drug diversion, you're looking at rape three."

"You're going to prison," the captain said without any sympathy. "And a jury will be happy to see you die there."

He gave the man a pointed look. "But, this doesn't have to go that route. If you work with us, I might be willing to be lenient."

"It was just sex!" the man exclaimed. "This whole business runs on that."

"Then let's start there," Olivia suggested.

Rafael wasn't surprised to find that the man didn't have much backbone to speak of, and they'd gotten a fair amount of information out of the man.

Capezio tipped them off about some actions of several female sales representatives, and the squad quickly got to planning another undercover operation for Officer Tamin, who was more than eager to take the job.

With that settled, Rafael headed back to his office, started cracking open his files, only to be interrupted by a call from one of the younger ADAs requesting he meet with her and the commanding officer of the 20 Precinct as the ADA was trying to leverage some weight against this CEO that they were looking at, the young ADA having caught her first high-profile case.

He'd gone, of course, and set up an action plan of sorts. He was more than willing to help the ADA limit her chances of getting into hot water. For multiple reasons that were rather self-explanatory.

When he finally made it back to his office, however, it was almost five and he wanted to go home. Still, he forced himself to focus on his files, deciding he'd work just another hour or so before going home and he'd work from home again.

It would mean another late night, but he was willing to take it if it meant he'd get some time with his family despite the increased workload.

He pulled out his phone, scrolled through his contacts, and pulled up his wife's number, typing a message. _'Hey. You working late tonight?'_

He smiled as he quickly got a text back. '_No. I should be home around 6pm. You?'_

_'I'll work in my study later. Dinner plans?'_

_'I'll make Chicken Rice Skillet? We have the chicken, rice and veggies. Or did you have something in mind?'_

He shook his head, amused. She didn't cook often, but she had honestly gotten a lot better at it. _'No, that's fine. I'll get dinner tomorrow then. I promised Noah I'd make Papas Rellenas this week.'_

His phone dinged again. '_Okay. See you in a couple of hours, Love.'_

'_See you soon, Cariño.'_ Deciding to put his phone off to the side, a smile still firmly on his face, he dived back into his files, trying to get as much done as he could before he went home for the day.


	128. Chapter 128

Rafael was completely exhausted from the sheer overtime he'd put in the last few days, which didn't look like it was going to end anytime soon, as he found out that morning that yet another ADA was put into quarantine, and was more than relieved when court was done for the day. At least the end of the week was quickly nearing.

He'd had a trial for a misdemeanour case, that honestly hadn't taken long. By two o'clock that afternoon the jury had been dismissed for deliberations and it was now another case off his hands.

He had a working lunch, managing his files, had an impromptu meeting with several defence attorneys, and finally got some rather good news from the detectives on the Capezio nightmare.

"There are benefits to her being ex-vice," Olivia said with a light chuckle. "Watch."

He nodded, pressing play on the audio recording that they'd gotten from Officer Tamin's undercover escapade at M. Malreaux's Bistro.

_Tamin was dealing with a man when a redhead walked in._

_Officer Tamin turned around. "Hi, can I help you?"_

_"Tiffany Reynolds, Harrington Pharma." The woman offered her hand to Tamin who shook it with no hesitation. "I'm the sales rep."_

_"Kathy Montes," the officer replied, a friendly smile on her face._

_"I know," the other woman said. "You're temping for Rhonda, right?"_

_Tamin dipped her head in confirmation and started to walk away, gesturing for the woman to walk and talk. "I am."_

_The woman started to follow her over to a desk. "__Dr. Capezio was right. It's a waste to put a body like yours behind a desk."_

_"Oh, uh," Tamin replied, taking a seat, the smile never leaving her face, "__Dr. Capezio's with a patient right now."_

_"Oh, I don't need him," __Reynolds __said. "How do you feel about lunch? We can order from this hot new bistro up the block and go to the conference room?"_

_"Oh. Okay," Tamin said, getting up to go with the woman. _

_Not much of substance transpired over the next few minutes, but finally, the pair sat down to talk. _

_"You're right," Tamin said, deliberately opening the door. "I'm not really a desk person." She leaned forward slightly. "__Do you get to travel?"_

_"All the time," __Reynolds confirmed. "__All expenses paid."_

_"How did you break into it?" Tamin inquired. "As a pharmacist?"_

_"It's more of, um, a people business," the woman explained. Tamin just nodded in response. "A lot of these doctors are busy. Tons of stress. You have to make a good first impression. Let them know your main concern is their happiness."_

_Tamin gave the woman a pointed look. "I haven't finished community college."_

_"Oh, neither have I." The woman was chuckling while she spoke. "When I interviewed, Mr. Rudolph told me I was already a Ph.D."_

_Tamin shot her a questioning look._

_"Poor, hungry, and desperate," the woman explained, taking a sip of her wine._

_Tamin nodded. "__Well, you've come a long way."_

_"You can too," __Reynolds said, giving Tamin a funny look. "__There's a lot of lonely doctors in this world. Just use what God gave you, and, God gave you plenty." __Tamin gave a chuckle that was somewhere between awkward and flattered. __"The happier you make the doctors, the more they prescribe," she continued._

_"So you just get paid to party?" Tamin inquired rather enthusiastically._

_"Bingo," the woman said, pleased that she'd roped Tamin in. "You wouldn't believe what I got for my Christmas bonus." She smiled even warmer now. "We're having a luncheon tomorrow, to roll out a new drug, for some of our biggest prescribers. Why not come with? See if it's for you."_

_"Sure," Tamin said happily, "I'd love to." _

Rafael paused the video as Tamin took a sip of her own wine, and turned to face Olivia while they talked. "She's money when it comes to undercover work." The police captain gave him a look of amusement. "How did you get vice to give her away?"

Olivia chuckled. "I don't even know." She paused. "She's a little over-eager, not unlike Carisi was, but I think we'll brown-beat her into a _very_ good detective yet." She gave him a funny look.

"What?" he said, fighting back a yawn.

"I may have pulled a Dodds," she said with a chuckle. "Don't say anything yet, but while we're on the topic of promotions... Amanda has been a third-grade detective for eight years." He nodded. "She's getting promoted to first-grade."

"Good for her," he said earnestly. He meant it. The woman was still going to therapy and was definitely working on improving herself, despite past mistakes. There was also no question that she _was_ good at her job when focused.

They chatted for another minute before Rafael brought the topic back around to the original topic. "So, Officer Tamin has made contact with a sales rep from Harrington Pharma who was a former adult film actress. Now she's making high six figures peddling Oxy." She made a vague gesture. "She was also rather explicit, although technically subject to interpretation, but it'll do." He shook his head. "Is this coming from the top down or are we looking at a rogue sales division?"

Olivia eyed him. "That's what we need to figure out. So, Kat will go with Tiffany to the pre-sales event tomorrow and we'll go from there."

"Good," he said, "because, they're going to close ranks and put up a fight. If their sales team is crossing the line, we need to prove it."

She gave him a sideways smile. "Smelling blood in the water?"

He smirked back. "Aren't you?" He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. "Go deal with your band of loony-tunes, and I'll try and get home again by a decent hour."

"No files at home tonight," she said, squeezing his hand. "Even you need to sleep at some point. One can not subsist on coffee alone."

He gave a little snort. "Sleep is for the weak." He gave her a more serious look though as he continued. "But, I'll concede your point."

"Good," she said, "and besides, dinner's on you tonight."

"Noted," he said with a light chuckle, watching as his wife walked to the door of his office. "Love you."

She smiled. "Love you too. See you at home."

As his wife closed the door behind her, he walked over to his coffee pot, pouring himself another cup of coffee, before he sat back down at his desk, throwing himself fully into his files once more.


	129. Chapter 129

The next few days were hectic for everyone, but Rafael was feeling more rested than he had in a few days, deliberately taking a step back from working so much.

He wasn't good to anyone running on fumes, and he had promised from the get-go to make his family a deliberate priority. Regardless of his often crazy work schedule.

Friday had, mercifully, gone well.

Tamin and Olivia got dolled up and went to the drug conference, both women discussing the best plan of action well beforehand.

The woman entered the building separately, and Olivia posed as some woman from out of town who worm in the prescription drug field while Tamin was brought upstairs to spend time with a few doctors.

Upstairs at the convention, Fin and Carisi burst into the hotel room Tamin was in to arrest a doctor, the undercover officer herself, and Tiffany. Not much later, Fin and Rafael spoke with Tiffany - who he was arraigning for grand larceny and prostitution.

Rafael commented that if she wanted to get out from under the mess to tell them who at Harrington gave the orders.

Tiffany, naturally, asked if she needed a lawyer, and Fin said that was her right, but they will just tell her to cooperate with them.

At that point, Tiffany stated that they were asking her to give up her bosses and they paid her really well.

Rafael commented that that was fine but the other girl they arrested was already talking. Tiffany countered that Kathy just started and doesn't know anything about how this works, but Rafael countered that, pointing out that Tiffany does, and that it was in her best interest to cooperate.

They'd managed to get several names, and Rafael figured he'd be able to plea several of the charges out.

Rafael and Olivia had also woken up to an e-mail from the school principal Sunday morning regarding the distance education plan that was in effect for the children who weren't at school and another from their son's teacher, allowing the boy to now start getting some school work done and, hopefully before long, have some sort of routine again. Noah needed it, having started to get a bit irritable and wonder when he was going to see his friends again.

They'd tried their best to reassure Noah, though, but the situation was what it was, and nobody knew when it was going to end.

Hopefully, between the returning school work, the backyard, and other activities around the house, they'd be able to keep Noah occupied.

The young boy was allowed to watch TV for an hour in the morning, but that was about it unless it was a really rainy day. They preferred him to read or play.

Keeping the kid from going stir crazy wasn't the easiest prospect, however, as he had a lot of energy. Thank god they'd moved out of the apartment, however. The townhouse had much more space, and the backyard, although not the largest, was definitely big enough for Noah to run around and play.

Things weren't going so smoothly with Rollins, however. Carisi, who had moved into the Rollins apartment, and she both had to go to family court Monday morning, taking a lawyer who specialized in custody cases that Rafael had recommended to them, the attorney having agreed to do it pro-bono.

By the end of the family court hearing, the pair was, thankfully, texting them to say that they'd been granted custody of the nephew - predicated on her apartment remain drug and alcohol-free and Kim Rollins not being allowed unsupervised visitation.

Rafael, thankfully, hadn't lost another ADA to the pandemic and was hoping that one of his ADAs would be cleared to return to work shortly.

Unfortunately, Lucy had also called in that day saying she had a cold and didn't want to risk coming in. They'd both assured the young woman it was no trouble and Rafael called his mother, asking if she could watch the kids for a while.

She had an important doctor's appointment that afternoon but readily agreed to watch the kids that morning.

He'd quickly asked Carmen to reschedule two of his later conference calls, and, giving a heads up to McCoy, grabbed a few of his files, and heading home at a quarter to three, McCoy agreeing that Rafael could work just as easily from home.

After the meeting, Rafael had practically run out of the building.

He tried to be quiet as he went in, knowing Sofía was no doubt down for a nap, but apparently his son didn't have the same concern.

"¡Papi!" he heard Noah exclaim from the living room where the boy was evidently eating a light snack. " You're home early."

"Sí, Mijo," he said, chuckling slightly as he spoke, "I am." He chuckled slightly as he spoke, and smiled when the seven-year-old threw his arms around him. He ruffled the boy's hair slightly. "¿Te has estado portando bien con tu abuela?" (Have you been behaving for your grandmother?)

He heard his mother chuckle. "Estuvimos bien, Rafi. Nada que no pudiera manejar." (We were fine, Rafi. Nothing I couldn't handle.)

He raised an eyebrow at that little comment. "Really?" He glanced between the two of them. "Ni siquiera voy a preguntar." (I'm not even going to ask.)

His mother smirked. "Buena decisión." (Good call.)

He placed his work files on the coffee table a few feet away and gave his mother a quick kiss on the cheek. "Gracias de nuevo por venir a ver a los niños." (Thanks again for coming to watch the kids.)

"No tienes que agradecerme, Mijo," she replied. "Sabes que me encanta pasar tiempo de calidad con los nietos." (No need to thank me, Mijo. You know I love spending quality time with my grandchildren.)

He nodded in response. "¿Cómo va tu trabajo escolar, hombrecito?" he inquired, turning to face the boy, a warm smile on his face as he did so. (How's your schoolwork going, little man?)

"Bueno," his son replied without preamble. "Terminé mis problemas matemáticos y practiqué mi lista de vocabulario." (Good. I am done my math problems and practiced my vocabulary list.)

Rafael glanced at his mother who immediately chimed in. "Tiene una lectura que hacer, dos hojas de trabajo más, y luego ha terminado por el día." (He has a reading to do, two more worksheets, and then he's done for the day.)

He nodded, more than pleased with what Noah had gotten done. He hadn't remotely expected Noah to just sit down and do everything at once, and still had most of the day to do the rest of it. "Está bien." (That's fine.)

"Jugué mucho lego," Noah chimed in. (I played lots of lego.)

"Él hizo," his mother confirmed. "También jugamos en el jardín por un tiempo e hicimos un par de molinetes de papel." (He did. We also played in the garden for a while and made a couple of paper pinwheels.)

"¿Los molinillos de papel?" he said. "¡Qué chévere!" (Paper pinwheels? How cool!)

The boy grinned. "¡Iré por ellos y te los mostraré!" With that, Noah ran off to grab the crafts that they'd made earlier. (I'll go get them and show you!)

"¡No corras por las escaleras!" he called out. (Don't run on the stairs!)

He immediately heard the boy slow down. "¡No estoy!" (I'm not!)

Rafael shook his head, amused. "¿De dónde saca su energía ese chico?" (Where does that kid get his energy from?)

His mother chuckled. "Me preguntaba lo mismo de ti cuando tenías su edad." (I wondered the same thing about you when you were his age.)

He immediately rolled his eyes, a definite lilt of sarcasm in his voice when he spoke next. "Gracias, Mami." He eyed his files on the coffee table for a moment. "Iré a guardarlos rápidamente mientras Noah está distraído," he said, gesturing towards them. (I'll go put those away quickly while Noah's distracted.)

His mother nodded. "Dale. Mientras haces eso, nos serviré un café a los dos." (Go ahead. While you do that I'll pour us both a coffee.)

He gave her a warm smile. "Gracias." (Thanks.)


	130. Chapter 130

That Monday afternoon went as well as Rafael could've hoped for. He got a fair amount of work done, his mother staying rather than going home, played with the kids, helped Noah with his school work.

He had more than a few work calls to take but managed to juggle the situation well enough, and when Olivia got home they all chatted for a while before sitting down for Quimbombo con Carne de Puerco y Bolitas de Platano, something neither Olivia or Noah had eaten before. It was Okra Stew with pork and plantain dumplings, and his mother had made Abuelita's recipe.

Olivia quite liked it. As for Noah, he was very hesitant to try the stew at first but eventually gave in. He managed to eat the meat and plantains out of it, leaving the broth, but they didn't expect the boy to like everything.

He helped his mother clean up after dinner, while Olivia made sure the kids were bathed, then brought out some junk food, everyone sitting down to watch a movie together as a family.

They all needed it, but the issue with Rollins was definitely bringing up some things for Olivia, regarding her own brother and how he passed. It was clear she was rattled by everything that was going on.

On Tuesday, things got interesting. They quickly learned on Tuesday that Rollins' sister Kim had called their father who had driven to town to see them both. Kim had wanted to stay with her sister, but Carisi had managed to convince his fiancée that it wasn't a good idea, finally succeeding when the lovely, piece of work, father tried to worm his way into staying with them as well.

The mess had come out when Kim, who was staying at a motel Carisi had put her up in, along with her father, showed up at the precinct.

Fin had had some choice words, as had Rafael, but Rafael had opted to bite his tongue where Fin decided not to bother, warning her she was running out of chances.

Meanwhile, Rollins got a call saying that her father had overdosed, but was currently stable. Rollins had looked like she'd just been punched in the gut. "I'm sorry, Captain, but can ya'll-"

Olivia nodded, knowing what was being asked. "Go. We'll be fine."

She nodded, clearly anxious. "Thanks."

"Captain-" Carisi said softly.

Olivia eyed the blond. "Go with her, Sonny. Whether she admits it or not, that _is_ her father, and it's got to hurt."

"Thanks, Liv."

"Call if you need anything," Rafael said pointedly, the blond wasting no time in running from the room as fast as he could.

Shaking his head, Rafael tried to resume the topic at hand. They _did_ have work to do still, unfortunately, if they were going to put enough pressure on Trey, the head of the company they were going after, who Rafael had learned, thanks to Carisi, was an old college friend of one of his senior ADA's - Vanessa Hadid. He wasted no time in talking to the woman and see if she couldn't shed further light on the situation. The more leverage he had, the better in cases like this. Unfortunately, that got him nowhere. Or so he thought.

He was rather surprised when Hadid showed up at the 1-6, and he wasn't the only one. The entire squad turned their heads.

"Sir," Hadid said with a nod while she walked in, "we need to talk about Trey. I went to your office and your assistant said you were here."

He nodded. "Let's take this to the captain's office."

Once the captain, the ADA, and himself were in Olivia's office, they closed the door, Olivia going a step further and closing the blinds.

He turned to Hadid. "Talk."

Unperturbed, she pulled out an undercover mic and audio player, evidently deciding to let the audio speak for itself.

Almost immediately they heard Trey Harrington's voice.

_"You should have called me."_

_"I assured my boss," Hadid instantly said, "there's no way this was coming from your office, but she's a former adult film actress with very little experience in pharmaceuticals. - The optics of -"_

_"It's a business, Vanessa."_

_"If a sales rep wants to trade favours, how can we police that?"_

_"How bad is it?"_

_"It hasn't gone to the DEA."_

_"Good," Trey said without missing a beat. "They're already up in our grill. All this outrage and scapegoating."_

_"But the drugs are addictive."_

_"Of course they're addictive," Trey said, "to the addict."_

_"Trey, I'm talking to you as a friend now."_

_"What if you were talking to me as a friend and a consigliere?"_

_"I'm with the DA's office," Hadid pointed out._

_"Mm, for now," Trey said, "but, bluntly, I'll be looking for a new house counsel. Look, until I can lure you over here, maybe you could, uh, keep tabs on this case."_

_"What's your worst fear here?" Hadid inquired. "How much exposure do you have?"_

_"Look... Did we downplay the addictive qualities of these drugs? Did we push them harder than we should have?" Trey admitted. "It's a corporation. We were trying to get as large a market share as we could. But if someone's looking to take us down..."_

_Hadid latched onto that comment. "So, what can I do for you now?"_

_"It would mean a lot to my family, and to me," Trey said, "if you could report back on where this investigation is going. I can see a bright future for us. Professionally, politically, and personally." The man then spoke as if adding an afterthought. __"I always felt we ended things prematurely."_

_"Your father wasn't gonna let a Hadid marry a Harrington," Hadid said._

Hadid ended the audio at that point, looking at both Rafael and Olivia. "There's enough there, for now, I think."

"You make a good undercover, Ms. Hadid," Rafael said. "However, you should have given us a heads up." He eyed her. "Still, good work."

"I leveraged a personal relationship," Hadid said. "I'm not proud of that."

"Why wouldn't you give us a heads-up?" Benson inquired.

"I had to hear for myself," the senior ADA admitted. "If this didn't pan out, you never would've known." The woman sighed. "I wish I was happier about this."

Rafael recognized the expression on the woman's face and genuinely felt for her, despite how difficult she was at times. It was so easy to put himself in her shoes back when he was being confronted with Alex Muñoz's corruption. He didn't know what to say, however, so just gave her a sad smile before bringing their meeting to a close.

Olivia eyed him. "You're arraigning Trey?"

He nodded. "First thing in the morning if I can swing it."

She nodded. "And the others-?"

He was saved from replying when Tamin knocked on the door, even with the door now being open, Carisi and Rollins standing not far behind her. "Sorry to interrupt, but Rick Rudolph wants to speak to you, Counsellor."

He eyed Olivia, feeling pleased with the news. "And the feeding frenzy I've been waiting for begins." Smirking, he started walking out the door.

He didn't even bother to stifle a laugh when he heard was Olivia call out after him. "Make it hurt, Counsellor."

He had some hangups with addicts as he knew how fickle they were, but if you were willing to take advantage of someone at their lowest point, especially when you were supposed to help, you really were the scum of the earth in his opinion. "Believe me," he said, "I want nothing more."

Within the next two hours, Rafael had four plea deals signed, them all selling out Trey to protect themselves from harsher charges. So predictable.

Unfortunately, the drama going on in Rollins' life wasn't over just yet, as she'd found out that her father had taken his IV out and just left, leaving a note behind.

He'd found out while he was Kim's plea hearing that afternoon, not that that had gone remotely as expected.

He was sitting in his office that evening finalizing some things for the upcoming plea hearings when Carisi came in.

"Hey," he said, giving Carisi a small smile. "What's up?"

"I wanted to say thank you," Carisi said. "I don't know what you said to her, but something finally got through to Kim. Amanda says Kim was the most clearheaded she'd ever seen her."

"She wants them to send her upstate, as soon as they can," Rafael said. "I could've kept her out of prison, at least through Harrington's trial, but she didn't want that. Her father's OD scared the hell out of her."

Carisi nodded. "It's for the best. She even told Amanda that the only way she's ever gonna get clean is to go back to prison." He played with his face some. "The girls don't need the toxic mess in their lives, so I'm honestly relieved her and Jim are now out of their lives once again."

"Believe me, Sonny," he said, "I get it."


	131. Chapter 131

The second of April dawned, and, although he was a bit tired from a combination of working late and spending time on the phone with several of his relatives the night before, he got himself out of bed and ready for the day ahead.

He had a quick breakfast with his family, his mother over to watch the kids once more as Lucy wasn't back yet, and then left early for work as he had a meeting before the Marshall-Lynch trial that same day that Defence Attorney D'Angelo just _had_ to have first thing.

"Talk fast, Mr. D'Angelo," he said with a sneer as he opened his office door. The man with him had a penchant for requesting last-minute meetings. "We're ten minutes from opening statements."

"Well, you can't talk as fast as you, Mr. Barba, but here it goes," the man quipped with his usual lofty tone. "My clients, in the interest of sparing themselves any more humiliation would like to discuss a deal."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I am sure they would," he said, "but I seriously doubt you could offer me anything even worth the paper it's written on."

Counsellor D'Angelo eyed him. "My clients are willing to plea to -"

Rafael frowned. "I swear, Counsellor, if you say anything close to Dis-Con -"

The defence attorney rolled his eyes but then spoke. "No. Something I think you'll like better." Rafael raised an eyebrow at that. "My clients are all willing to plead guilty to aggravated assault and unlawful confinement."

He gestured vaguely. "Go on."

"They do five years," the defence attorney offered, "and both Mr. Lynch and Mr. Marshall will both relinquish all parental rights and waive visitation."

He smirked, although he did actually consider the situation. He knew he could get them all behind bars for much longer than that and defence counsel knew it. They were scared. "Make it eight, followed by one year probation."

Counsellor D'Angelo eyed him coolly. "Seven. Minus credit for pre-trial custody." The man gave Rafael a funny look, clearly considering his odds. His clients could easily get up to ten years if this continued to trial. "Followed by two years probation."

"Make that three years of probation for Mr. Marshall," Rafael said, "and, naturally, I'll need all of them to allocute."

The defence attorney sighed. "I expected nothing less."

Rafael knew better than to push his luck, and nodded, a self-satisfied smile still playing on his face. "Then we have a deal."

The other man gave him a curt nod. "Alright then." The man quickly checked the time, knowing as well as Rafael did that they were currently running rather tight on time. "Let's go inform Judge Catano."

He patted the man on the back. "Always fun doing business with you."

"Asshole," D'Angelo grumbled.

"Funny," Rafael said, "many have said the same about you."

The other man rolled his eyes. "Let's go get this over with already."

He gestured towards the door. "Lead the way, Counsellor."

The judge was already waiting for them as had been expected when they walked into the courtroom. Rafael kept his expression neutral as he informed the judge that counsel would like to request a meeting in chambers regarding a plea.

Judge Catano had quickly agreed, leading both attornies back to the judge's chambers. Once there, the judge immediately took a seat and eyed the pair of them. "So," the judge said, "I understand you've reached a deal?"

Rafael gave a little dip of the head in response. "We have, Your Honour."

"Can't say I'm exactly surprised." The judge eyed them both, but his look definitely lingered slightly longer on Counsellor D'Angelo. "You want to tell me what it is?"

The defence attorney swiftly jumped into explaining the particulars of the deal that they wanted to make. "My clients would-"

Thankfully, it didn't take Judge Catano long to approve the deal, allowing Rafael to get back to his office to get some more work done that he hadn't expected to. He was rather pleased by the fact, honestly.

He spent a good hour or so dealing with various work e-mails, phone calls, and generally getting updates on the ADAs under his supervision, which he, naturally, had to pass on to McCoy, along with updates regarding a couple of his own cases.

Once he was caught up on that, he did some work on his own files, before deciding to take a bit of a break for Lunch, given the time. He chatted with his wife briefly, texted back and forth with Rita some, and, fresh cup of coffee in hand, sat down to FaceTime with his mother and Noah. Noah was more than a little chatty as the boy explained the plans for the afternoon, how his schoolwork was going, and, generally, how his morning had gone.

"Papi, ¿cuándo volveré a la escuela?" (Papi, when will I go back to school?)

He frowned slightly. "Realmente no lo sé," he admitted. Unfortunately, the situation with the pandemic only seemed to be getting worse and worse. "Sin embargo, no será por unas pocas semanas más todavía. Ok?" (I really don't know. However, it won't be for a few more weeks yet. Okay?)

"Sí," the boy said. grumbling slightly.

He sighed. "Sé que esto apesta, Noah." He gave the boy a, hopefully, somewhat reassuring look. "Al mal tiempo, buena cara. Esto terminará antes de que te des cuenta." Noah raised an eyebrow at that, which amused Rafael slightly. "Ahora, tengo que irme, pero estaré en casa para cenar. Compórtate bien para tu abuela, ¿de acuerdo, muchacho?" (I know this sucks, Noah. Keep you're chin up. This'll be over before you know it. Now, I need to go, but I'll be home for dinner. Behave for your grandmother, alright, Kiddo?)

"Claro." Noah smiled more warmly now. "Te quiero." (Of course. Love you.)

He returned the boy's warm smile. "Yo también te quiero, Mijo." (I love you too, Mijo.)

After lunch, he was able to actually work and focus on his own cases. For the most part, at least. He didn't have any scheduled meetings, because he'd been scheduled for court, so he was able to just sit and manage his files. Going through different reports, depositions, and other documents he had.

The work was going well, and he even texted with Blaine a little bit, who he'd only talked to once since the Sosa mess some time ago.

At a quarter to four, he'd had to contact court clerks regarding the hearing status of three of his cases. Once he'd gotten that information, it didn't take long for him to wrap up those files, moving onto another one.

He then reviewed documents for what was a very probable Romeo and Juliet case, in Rafael's opinion, and called several witnesses as well as the commanding officer of the investigating precinct to set up interviews over the next few days.

He kept going until half-past five when he grabbed a couple of files, threw his suit vest on, and started to make his way out of 1 Hogan Place.

"Going home already?" Carmen inquired when she saw him. He didn't miss the pleased look on her face. She apparently agreed he'd been working too much.

He nodded. "Nothing I can't do from home."

"How are the kids?"

He gave a little snort. "Climbing the walls."

She chuckled. "Hang in there." She turned her attention to her computer for a second, turning it off as she was done for the day.

He rolled his eyes. "Walk you out?"

With a small nod, she stood up, and started to throw her jacket on and grabbing her things. "Sure. Just give me a sec."

He gave her a small nod, not minding the short wait in the slightest, sending off a quick text while he waited for Carmen to be ready to go. The pair soon hopping into the elevator, heading to their respective homes.


	132. Chapter 132

Friday morning, Rafael had three hearings. With that being said, he did have a fairly open schedule for the rest of the day. Thankfully, one of his ADAs who had been on leave was now cleared to return to work, which was a major weight off of his shoulders.

Rafael didn't feel particularly bad about the man returning to a stack of pending cases on his desk, and was more than a little relieved, to be honest, by how much smaller his own pile of manila folders now was.

Lucy was also feeling way better and was in the clear as well, so had returned that morning, giving his mother a bit of a much-needed break. His mother had honestly been a lifesaver in more ways than one.

Noah's reaction at seeing Lucy again had been more than a little endearing, and both he and Olivia were glad to see her too. They did care about her and had been more than a little concerned when they'd gotten the call saying she'd taken ill. Suffice to say, the fact it had been a regular flu and she fully recovered was a huge relief.

It hadn't taken Lucy any time at all to jump right back into the swing of things either.

Lucy had Sofía in her arms, Olivia currently throwing a load of laundry on before she left for work herself. "Wave bye-bye to Daddy, Missy."

He shook his head, amused. "Have a good morning you guys. Do call if you need anything, Lucy, though I should be home around lunchtime."

The District Attorney's Office was operating within the office with a skeletal crew while most of the employees worked remotely from home when not needing to make court appearances etc. Rafael and McCoy were part of the skeletal crew, but even they were starting to work from home part of the day at least once a week.

She dipped her head slightly in acknowledgement, still smiling warmly. "We'll be fine, Rafael, so don't rush on our account."

He nodded before turning to face his son. "Be good for Lucy, and make sure you get your schoolwork done, okay?"

"Pero, Papi -" Noah whined. (But, Papi-)

"No te quejes, chico," he gently chastised. He ruffled the boy's hair as he did so. He switched to English once more for Lucy's benefit. "I want at least half of it done before lunch. You'll still have a lot of time to play, I promise you that." (No whining, Kiddo.)

Noah grumbled his response. "Ok."

He gave the boy a kiss on the forehead. "Te quiero." (I love you.)

A small smile formed on Noah's lips at that comment despite the earlier grumpiness. "Yo te quiero también, Papi." (I love you too, Papi.)

With traffic being as light as it was, there was no question about him being able to find parking at the courthouse easily. It was one of the few perks of the mess the city was currently finding itself in.

Arraignment court went well, and his plea hearing for a domestic went off without a hitch. They were definitely getting more domestic abuse cases lately with the majority of New Yorkers self-isolating at home while the city was on partial lockdown.

Many domestic violence victims were not getting to go to work or school. They'd lost their safe space, resources to get help being limited by the pandemic.

Victims would ordinarily wait to be by themselves before seeking help. They'd wait for their abuser to go to work. They'd secretly reach out to friends. They'd look for openings when they didn't have child-care obligations. All those options were closing down for many of them.

Thankfully, shelters in New York City were deemed '_essential services_' and were still operating. However, many domestic violence service providers stopped seeing as many clients in person because of the virus and pivoted their services to hotlines, phone consultations and virtual sessions.

Many shelters also had a change in allowed capacity and that wasn't even getting to the mess of the children themselves who were well and truly cut off from those they could go to for help.

It was no surprise that abusers would take advantage of the increased vulnerability.

He had to stop by Olivia's precinct to get some documents, but that hadn't taken long and had been more of an excuse to see his wife briefly than anything else.

Once he was in his office, he replied to some e-mails and calls and threw himself into his files, rereading both _The_ _Violence Against Women Act _and _The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act _for the umpteenth time.

A defence attorney called, requesting a meeting the following day, so Rafael ended up sneaking out slightly later than he had intended, but he still managed to be out of his office by half-past twelve.

Walking through the doors of the brownstone, he heard what was very clearly_ Depeche Mode _playing. His lips quirked upwards with amusement and entered the main part of the house. Hearing voices coming from outside, he headed to the backyard.

"You know," he commented, "growing up in the 80s, my favourite bands were like U2, The Cure, and Depeche Mode."

"People may tease," Lucy quipped, adjusting her grip on Sofía as she continued to feed her a bottle of formula, "but they're not a bad band. I do prefer U2, though. They have some awesome songs."

"U2 was my band," he replied fondly. "Joshua Tree came out my junior year, actually. I got that Album almost immediately after it came out." He'd been working part-time while in high school and his mother had helped him scrape together the money, knowing it was something Rafael really wanted. They hadn't often been able to afford many extras, but his mother did what she could. He turned his attention to his son, who was sitting at the patio table, eating. "How was your morning, Mijo?"

"Good," Noah said, munching on a slice of red pepper. "I got a lot of my schoolwork done, and we played wiffleball." They'd bought Noah a set a while back, wanting him to have some more outside toys.

"I also brought some things from home for a little bean bag toss," Lucy added.

"Oh yeah!" Noah said, grinning. "That was fun!"

"I'm glad you had fun," he said, walking over to Noah and stealing a potato chip. "¡Qué rico! Now, who said you could have chips?"

"¡AY!" Noah exclaimed, laughing. "_You_ bought them."

"I did, did I?" he shot back. "Then that was a very good idea." He pretended to steal another one off Noah's plate. He'd bought a lot of groceries, so they could actually cook, but he'd also bought some Kraft Dinner, ravioli, and hotdogs so there were a couple of easy items for them to whip together.

"Get your own," Noah retorted good-naturedly. "¡Es _mi_ lonche!" (This is _my_ lunch!)

He chuckled, trying not to roll his eyes at the Spanglish the seven-year-old had somehow picked up. He knew full well Noah knew the real word for it. "¡Está bien! ¡Está bien! Iré a buscar mi propio _almuerzo_." He deliberately placed an emphasis on the actual Spanish word, wanting to reinforce it. (Alright, alright! I'll go get my own lunch.)

Noah rolled his eyes when he caught the emphasis, but didn't comment.

Lucy shook her head. "Why don't you go grab some lunch and I'll go clean Sofía up and put her down for a nap?"

He dipped his head slightly, smiling. "I'll take you up on that. Thank you for this morning, by the way."

"Of course," she replied, making her way into the house with a now rather squirmy eight-and-a-half-month-old.

"Paaaaapi."

He turned back to Noah. "¿Sí?" (Yes?)

"Un bicho me mordió." The boy showed him his arms, and sure enough, there was a little red bump on the inside of the left one. (A bug bit me.)

He looked at it a bit more closely. "Hum, parece una picadura de mosquito, pero deberías estar bien. ¿Te está molestando?" (Hmmm, it looks like a mosquito bite, but you should be fine. Is it bothering you?)

His son shook his head. "No."

"Ok," he said. "Bueno, si es así, házmelo saber. Voy a la cocina. Querías algo mientras estoy adentro?" (Okay. Well, if it does, let me know. I'm going to the kitchen. Did you want anything while I'm inside?)

Noah immediately eyed his now empty glass. "¿Puedo tomar un poco de jugo de manzana, por favor?" (Can I have some apple juice, please?)

He wasn't exactly surprised by the request, nor bothered by it. They bought real fruit juice and only ever filled it halfway, topping it up with water so it wasn't overly sweet or sugary. "¿Ya tomaste un vaso?" (Did you already have a glass of it?)

"Solo uno," the boy admitted. "¡Por favor, Papi!" (Just one. Please, Papi!)

"Está bien," he agreed easily. It was hardly a big deal. "Pero solo uno más, ¿de acuerdo?" (That's fine. But only one more, alright?)

Noah seemed satisfied with that. "De acuerdo, Papi." (Alright, Papi.)

He ruffled the boy's hair playfully. "Entonces ya vuelvo." (Then I'll be right back.)


	133. Chapter 133

Lucy stayed for a bit, just visiting and chatting with them, but eventually headed back to her own brownstone, leaving Rafael home with both the kids for the day until Olivia got home that evening.

He was glad to be home though and played with his son in the backyard for a bit before having Noah sit down to finish his school work. A lot of it was done, but he still had a couple of things to do.

Zoom was easy enough to use for schoolwork, and Noah's teacher was still actively involved. Rather than one fourty-five minute class, Noah's teacher was doing three separate fifteen minute classes a day with a third of the class each time in which they went over any questions and as many basics as they could.

They covered a lot of ground, and it no doubt aided the students some, but afterwards that left the parents to make sure that schoolwork was actually getting done. That was fine, honestly, but it had been years since Rafael had seen a far amount of the content that they were learning.

Thankfully, Noah was young so most of it was pretty basic, so he helped Noah finish his schoolwork, which didn't take too much longer, blessedly. The boy then asked for some colouring sheets and did some colouring.

"¡Papi, se me destrozó mi hoja para colorear!" Noah said, his tone making it clear he was upset about the fact. "¿Puedes printearme una nueva?" (Papi, I accidentally wrecked my colouring sheet! Can you print me a new one?)

He raised an eyebrow. "Sí, puedo _imprimir_ una nueva hoja para colorear para ti." He put emphasis on the actual Spanish word for 'to print,' noting Noah had a habit of speaking more Spanglish lately. He didn't mind, per se, but he did want Noah to know the real words as well. "¿Qué tan malo es?" (Yes, I can print you out a new colouring sheet. How bad is it?)

"Muy malo," Noah grumbled, crumpling up the paper. Apparently the thought that it could have possibly been salvaged didn't occur to the boy. Regardless, now he really did need to print a new copy. (Pretty bad.)

"¿Qué hoja era?" he inquired, sighing slightly. He closed his laptop and made his way to the other side of the table. He flatted out the paper so he could get a look at it. "Ah, la que tiene los carros." He eyed Noah. "Bueno, la imprimiré en un momento. Colorea la otra mientras tanto." (Which sheet was it? Ah, the one with the cars on it. Well, I'll have it printed in a moment. Colour the other one in the meantime.)

Noah coloured for awhile, letting Rafael manage to get some work done, and then the boy asked him if he could watch some television. Sofía was still sleeping, and he did have work to do, so agreed, letting the boy go watch a show on Netflix quietly. With the stipulation that it was in Spanish, however, which was easy enough for most shows. Noah already knew perfectly well how to switch the language over and had no issue with it if it meant some screen time.

He managed to get some work done before Sofía woke up from her nap at a quarter to three in the afternoon. He changed and fed her and then put his work away, making a point to focus on the kids.

After an hour of playing with the kids, he did a hit of tidying up around the house, Noah playing quietly in the living room and Sofía in her playpen, a cartoon that more often than not held Sofía's attention playing on the TV.

He then got Noah set up for a craft and, the seven-year-old and infant both temporarily occupied, he sat down to get more work done, returning a few work calls and emails right off the bat.

The rest if the afternoon went similarly; him taking a break every now and then to focus on the kids, and getting as much work done when the kids were occupied and didn't need his undivided attention. Noah admittedly being the easier of the two, given his age and capabilities.

He didn't get as much work as he'd like done, but it was something. He wasn't particularly behind, so that was a plus in his book.

Shortly before six o'clock, he put the files away, deciding he could work after the kids were in bed if he needed to, getting some prep work for dinner done. He was going with arroz con pollo, opting for an easy favourite.

While everything was simmering on low heat, he set a timer and went to focus on the kids, playing a card game with his son.

"Oh! War!" Noah said happily.

"Ready?" he quipped.

"I-de-clare-war!" they both chorused, placing their cards down as they did so. Noah was on a winning streak and it didn't look like Rafael was faring any better this second round either, but the pair were having fun.

Rafael eyed the cards quickly as they placed the last one down. A self-satisfied smile appeared on Noah's face as he did the same.

"¡Tu me gana de nuevo!" Rafael said with a chuckle, throwing his hands up as he spoke. "Me rindo, me rindo." (You got me again! I surrender, I surrender.)

He got up to check on dinner and heard the front door open and his wife's voice start up as she chatted with Noah.

He was loading the dishwasher when a pair of hands appeared on his waste. He turned around to face Olivia and she gave him a quick kiss. "How was your day?"

"Hectic," he said, kissing her on the neck. He kissed her on the other side as well before speaking. "But, good. I spent the last while losing at cards."

She hummed in reply before she pulled him in for a kiss. Any reply was lost against her mouth. He kissed her gently, but it wasn't gentleness either wanted, not now, not after the long day they'd both had, and she knotted her fists in his shirt, pulling him harder against her. He groaned softly, low in his throat, and then his arms circled her, gathering her against him, still kissing.

When they finally broke apart, Olivia just smiled. "I missed you at work today."

He chuckled softly. "I missed you too." He eyed her and spoke more seriously. "Long day, mi amor?" he inquired.

She nodded. "You have no idea."

He kissed her on the forehead and made her look at him. "Well, how about some dinner, then you take a nice bath and have some wine?"

She smiled softly. "That sounds kinda perfect, actually."

"Well then we have a plan," he said, squeezing her hand. "Why don't you and Noah go wash your hands, and I'll finish this and serve dinner." Noah had already set the table for dinner, so there wasn't much left to do.

She kissed him on the cheek. "Love you, Handsome."

He crinkled his nose in contentment. "I love you too, beautiful wife of mine, more than you know. Now go wash up so we can eat."

She nodded, the warm smile never leaving her lips. "Noah, Sweetie, dinner's ready! It's time to get washed up!"

"Okay, Mama!" they immediately heard their son call out, followed by hurried footsteps racing to the bathroom.

He shook his head, amused. "Where does that kid get his energy from?"

She gave a little snort. "If you ever find out, let me know. I could use some."

He chuckled. "You're not the only one, Cariño."


	134. Chapter 134

The weekend went by much too quickly. Saturday, they spent most of the day in the backyard, playing games or reading in the lounge chairs since it was so nice out. Rafael had just begun rereading '_Cien años de Soledad.' _He wasn't the only one to pick up a book. Olivia had started reading '_Before We Were Yours,' _by Lisa something or other. Even Noah had grabbed a small book to read: _Me gustaría tener..._

Rafael may or may not have encouraged him picking one of his various Spanish books, and, honestly, he didn't feel bad about it in the slightest. He did it largely because, typically, the first generation born was is bilingual, and the second generation was monolingual - in English, the children often struggling to speak easily with their immigrant grandparents.

With their unique situation being what it was, Noah starting to truly learn Spanish much later on than most, and how much English was being spoken at home on a regular basis, the kid needed as much exposure as possible if he was going to maintain any degree of fluency in Spanish when he was older.

With that being said, he tried not to push it too much. He wanted Noah to continue to enjoy Spanish and was having a hard time finding a balance on just how much to push the issue.

All in all, however, Saturday had been nice. Rafael did lock himself in his study for an hour and a half to get some stuff done that he hadn't managed to on Friday, but was with his family the rest of the day.

As for Sunday, it was raining. With the poor weather, they ended up playing a lot of board games inside. Olivia made grilled cheese and mushroom soup for dinner, and the little family ended the night watching _The Secret Life of Pets._

Monday, of course, meant everyone was back to work, and Rafael already knew that he'd be working out of the home all day. He only had one arraignment hearing that morning, but it was easier in a lot of ways to get work done when he wasn't at home, hence him not doing it every day.

He was driving to the office that morning and had at the halfway point of his drive to work when some idiot driver cut him off when trying to merge into his lane.

"¡Coño! ¡Qué paragüero eres!" he yelled out as soon as the near-accident had successfully been averted. Irritated more by the fact that the idiot was now giving him the middle finger out the window for something that was entirely _their_ fault. (Fuck! You lousy driver!)

Thankfully, the rest of the short drive went fine and Rafael was able to finally park the car and get out, closing the door behind him rather harder than intended.

Getting onto his flour of the building, he greeted Carmen, settled into his desk, and had the next thirty minutes to himself. No colleagues popping in, no phone calls coming in yet, and no emails to respond to yet.

It was enough time to ready himself for the Molineux hearing he had scheduled for the following morning, which was a huge weight off his back.

The rest of the morning, Rafael wasn't so lucky and was thrown back into his rather hectic schedule, spending a lot of time on the phone and emailing back and forth with people as well.

He had a working lunch and then went back to managing his files for an hour before getting called down to the 16th precinct.

"Credit card theft?" Rafael said with a snort. "That's pretty thin."

"Well, I had to charge her with something," Rollins shot back without missing a beat. "She was ready to walk out the door."

"And she will," Rafael quipped, "as soon as she posts bail." He quirked an eyebrow as he continued to speak. "Which will be minuscule, I might add."

"Even her mother thinks she did it," Carisi said.

Rollins eyed him. "We need more time, Counsellor."

He sighed. "We have an Amber Alert out for Mackenzie?"

"Yes," Olivia confirmed.

He eyed them all. "Well, then, get back in there and wring a confession out of her before she remembers her favourite episode of Judge Judy and lawyers up."

The case was a mess in more ways than one. An older woman named Evelyn had walked into the precinct and told them she hadn't seen her granddaughter Mackenzie in a couple of days. Her daughter had told her the little girl was at her father's for a few days, but after some odd comments had grown very concerned.

Carisi and Tamin then went to do a wellness check and talk with the daughter, Allison Taylor. She had apparently been hosing down the inside of the trunk of her car. The detectives had exited the car, and mother and grandmother got into a bit of a spat before Allison decided to explain her side of things, claiming that she had been getting ready to go pick up her daughter shortly.

Officer Tamin had 'offered' to go with Allison, and things got even more convoluted. The father was there, seemed genuinely concerned, had an alibi, and claimed Allison hadn't let him see Mackenzie in months.

They looked more into both parents at that point and ascertained that the father, Jason, was telling the truth. Looking into Allison, they ended up finding some rather suspicious purchases on a stolen credit card she still had in her possession. They were able to get a picture of the purchaser as well, confirming it was her, which they showed to Allison when confronting her with the financial records.

When Evelyn saw the photo of her daughter buying a shovel and tarp, things understandably got a little heated. Olivia pulled Evelyn aside, and she wasted no time in making her thoughts perfectly clear. She claimed Allison was a bad mother and that it was just a matter of time before something bad happened.

Rafael was then called in to observe when Allison was brought in for the second time that day. He watched as a way too calm young single mother claimed she bought the shovel for her father and denied doing anything. At that point, Rollins arrested Allison for the credit card theft and fraud.

"Too late for that," Officer Tamin said from behind them. They all turned around to see Sophie Devere standing there.

He eyed the woman. "Long time no see, Ms. Devere."

"You should be ashamed of yourselves," the defence attorney said without preamble, "conspiring to charge an innocent mother."

"Your client is as innocent as Casey Anthony," Rafael retorted. This entire case bothered him, was bothering them all, and it was clear as day that the young mother was covering _something_ up.

"Hardly," the woman replied. "Now, I'm going to see my client."

As the defence attorney walked away, making her way towards Interrogation 1, Rafael turned his attention to the squad. "Keep an eye on those two. Devere likes her insanity pleas, among other things. The more media attention she can get, the better." He shook his head. "This case has been a dog from the start."

The squad just nodded back at him before they all started discussing what their next move was and just how they wanted to handle things. They had to handle things as quietly as possible or there was going to be a media uproar.

The captain got his attention. "Counsellor, walk you out?"

He gave her a small smile in response, gesturing for her to follow him, as he walked and readjusted his tie slightly. After they were out of the squad's earshot, he turned to face her. "You wanted to talk, Liv? What's up?" He wasn't blind. She was noticeably upset; if you knew her tells, at least.

She squeezed his hand tightly, a myriad of emotions showing on her face. "If I went home right now, I don't... I don't think I could leave Noah or Sofía."

He gave her a sad smile, completely understanding where she was coming from. "It's a tough case." He kissed her on the forehead. "Hang in there, and call if you need to, alright?" She nodded. "Good." He kissed her on the cheek. "I'll see you at home, mi amor. Love you."

She gave him a lopsided smile, still close to tears. "I love you too."


	135. Chapter 135

The next day didn't go much easier than the previous for any of them, and Rafael was one of the few who got any sleep at all that night. The entire squad worked quite late, but Rafael wasn't able to do anything to help them at that point. Unfortunately. While Rafael was dealing with hearings and meetings, the SVU squad was still dealing with the Allison Taylor mess, no longer holding out much hope that they'd actually find the four-month-old baby girl alive.

It didn't help that the school district was once again changing plans, suddenly deciding to change the platform on which they were doing the remote teaching. There was some security concerns it seemed and they were supposed to switch to Microsoft Teams for the interim. It wasn't a big deal, but just complicated things slightly.

As for the Taylor mess, Allison wouldn't admit to knowing anything about her daughter Mackenzie's whereabouts, and they couldn't seem to get any leads.

Still, Carisi and Tami paid a visit to both Allison's father Mike and the ex-boyfriend, Jason. Rollins went to talk to Evelyn and the neighbours, but everything ended in yet another dead end.

Rafael got into a little spat with Devere during that as the woman had wanted to hold a press conference and turn everything into a media frenzy. After getting the woman to stand down, he went back to managing his files.

He was a bit antsy, wanting news about the infant, but managed to get some work done before running down to the 1-6 to more or less hound them for information he could've easily gotten over the phone.

"No DNA from Mackenzie Taylor," he said with no little amount of irritation slipping into his voice as he spoke. "Or hair. Or tissue."

"Allison's prints are on it, though," Rollins said. "That's something."

He eyed the blonde detective. "Iffy! Allison's weren't the only prints on the shovel. Tamin and Mike Taylor's were on it as well And plan old dirty. Nothing unusual by and stretch of the imagination. He sighed. "Did CSU have anything to say?"

"Look for yourself," the captain suggested, passing him a folder mere seconds later.

He scanned the pages quickly and looked up at the others. "Montgomery's report... the only thing that stands out is the high levels of nitrogen."

Officer Tamin eyed him. "Come again?"

"Plants," Rafael explained easily as more than a few people around him were visibly confused by where his train of thought was going.

"What are you thinking?" Olivia inquired, giving him a sideways smile. He'd obviously piqued her curiosity.

He shrugged slightly. "Levels this high..." He gestured to the file. "The area would have to have tons of vegetation."

He saw a lightbulb go off in Fin's eyes. "Like a forest or park."

He dipped his head slightly. "Exactly."

"You're thinking Mackenzie was buried somewhere near a park?"

He glanced at them. "If you guys have any better theories, I'm open -"

"You don't think that's a little risky?" Officer Tamin inquired. "I mean, parks usually have people coming and going at all hours. It's just too risky, even for a kid as dense as Allison is."

"They're all closed down right now," he pointed out. "She'd have more privacy."

Tamin nodded, but still didn't seem completely convinced. "I guess."

"I say we look into it," Carisi said. "It can't hurt."

"I agree," Rollins said, "but guys, it'll take weeks to investigate every one of the sites located near the Taylor home."

"Well, Allison may be a selfish brat, but she's not a psychopath," Rafael pointed out. "She would have been scared."

"So.." Carisi started.

"So, she would want to bury Mackenzie someplace familiar," he said.

Olivia nodded. "Someplace where she felt safe."

"We just have to find out where _that_ is," Fin said with a sigh.

Rafael gave the sergeant a sideways look, and was about to respond when Olivia spoke. He was only half paying attention as he was still wracking his brain. "Kat, Carisi, go talk to Allison's parents," Olivia ordered. "Rollins, go talk to Jason."

"On it," Tamin chirped, going to grab her keys off her desk.

"Wait!" Carisi said, getting everyone's attention. "Where does a lone parent take their kid to play?" They all eyed the blond. "Okay, 'Manda, where do you always take Jess and Billie to play?"

"The park in my neighbourhood?" Rollins replied hesitantly.

"Tompkins Square Park," Olivia chimed in after a moment. "That's near her parents' home where she grew up and she still lives in that area."

He smirked. "We should still talk to the parents, but Carisi, I think you just volunteered to lead a canvas of the park."

The blond rolled his eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

He was about to retort when his phone buzzed. Rafael pulled his phone out, sighing when he saw the call display. "It's our D.A." He gave them a pointed look, waving his phone slightly. "This should be short but not sweet." Nobody wanted a missing child on their head, and Rafael wasn't looking forward to the conversation he now had to have. Especially now that, given the shovel and tarp, it looked as though they were dealing with a homicide. He shook his head slightly before finally answering his boss's call. "Hello. This is Rafael Barba speaking."

The phone call with Jack McCoy didn't last long, and was summed up easily be one simple question: _Why haven't you charged the mother yet?_

Once that unpleasant phone call was over, he headed back to his office and returned a couple of other phone calls before diving into the rest of the stack of files on his desk.

It was almost six o'clock when Rafael got a call from Olivia letting him know that the canvas of the park had turned up the body of an infant who'd been buried back in a small section that was mostly just trees and more trees.

They'd found Mackenzie, for whatever that was worth.

"Arrest her," Rafael grumbled. "She can stay in the Tombs over night."

"Fin and Tamin are already headed her way," Olivia said, tone matching Rafael's own frustrated one. In their line of work, this was a win, but it wasn't really a win. How could it be when a little girl had lost her life?

"Good," he said with a sneer.

Ending the call, he tried to focus on his work. He couldn't focus as well as he needed to though, and by six thirty that evening had called it quits. Needing a breather, he threw on his suit vest, grabbed his keys, and headed home to his family.


	136. Chapter 136

The Allison Taylor arraignment on April 8 went reasonably well, all things considered. Allison pled not guilty to all the charges, including the count of negligent homicide that he had added at the last minute. It might have been petty to keep the counts of credit card fraud and second-degree theft, but he didn't overly care.

He had requested remand and Devere was clearly irritated by that and ended up getting the judge on their side. Allison ended up getting bail, which Rafael wasn't really surprised about, the judge setting the amount at $1 million.

He'd still been making his way out of the courtroom when Carisi approached Rafael, telling him that there was a problem.

He ended up hopping into Carisi's car, the Taylor arraignment being Rafael's last hearing that morning, the pair of them driving down to the Medical Examiner's Office to speak with Melinda Warner.

"Mackenzie Taylor's death wasn't a homicide," the chief medical examiner said, wasting no time at getting to the point of their visit.

"She was just dug out of a shallow grave," Rafael said incredulously. "She didn't fall in there playing hopscotch."

"Well, whoever put her in there didn't kill her," the woman said. "This baby wasn't dropped, shaken, drowned, or smothered. Nothing on the tox screen." She sighed. "It wasn't murder or an accident."

"No signs of abuse or neglect?" Rafael questioned, more than a little stunned.

"Nothing," the medical examiner assured him. "No bruises or abrasions. She wasn't malnourished either."

"So, how did she die?" Rafael inquired.

"We know this baby wasn't breastfed," the medical examiner pointed out. "Is the mother a smoker?"

"Yeah. She's your typical young party girl," Rafael replied. "Why?"

"Risk factor for SIDS- sudden infant death syndrome." Rafael heaved a sigh when he heard the M.E say that, several things about the case suddenly starting to make sense. "It'll take a while to confirm, but right now, that's what my gut's telling me."

He nodded his head, licking his lips. "Okay. Okay."

Carisi eyed him. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know." He shook his head, knowing full well how unsettled he was feeling was showing on his face as clear as day. "I don't know."

Leaving the office, he tried to wrack his brain for the best way to handle the situation. Once back at his office, he just kept pacing, until he eventually pulled out a bottle of scotch and poured himself a glass.

He downed the tumbler quickly, pouring himself a second as he tried to figure out what to do. The young woman clearly needed help, for a myriad of reasons, but was certainly not a murderer. Just young and stupid.

It also wasn't hard to put himself back in the hospital room with Maggie Householder. He downed the second glass and pulled out his phone, calling Allison's defence attorney to set up a meeting.

He muddled through lunch, had several meetings regarding other cases, and, somehow, managed to make a small dent in his stack of paperwork.

He wasn't able to get a meeting with Devere and Allison Taylor until that evening, so the later drive out to Rikers Island made for a really long day. He was tired, plain and simple. Still, this meeting was crucial and Rafael didn't want to delay it. He was going to have to pull a sleight of hand, but if it worked, Allison might just get the help she needed and would likely refuse otherwise.

"I'm not sure why we're here," opposing counsel said.

"You're not?" he deadpanned. "Your client either caused the death of her child or she failed to contact emergency services. Either way, she's in trouble."

"Not if you give her Queen For A Day," Counsellor Devere said.

"Sold," he said with a smirk. "We'll throw in a tiara, as long as she tells us everything, right now, no holding back. She does that and I'll drop the homicide charges entirely."

"What's the catch, Barba?" Devere questioned, knowing she was being maneuvered in a little chess game of his. It wasn't the first time.

"Allison does 300 hours of community service for the theft and fraud," he said. "With the additional stipulation of weekly therapy, and she enrolls in an alcohol treatment program." He shot Allison a pointed look. "You've lied multiple times. Last chance."

Counsellor Devere finally seemed to catch on, although she didn't fully understand. She didn't yet have the same information that he did. "We'll take it."

"The truth... I don't know what happened," Allison said softly. "Thursday night, I had finally passed out, but she woke me up. Again. Kenz was fussy and just wouldn't settle. She wouldn't stop crying. And I... I just couldn't take it anymore. It was all night long." She let out a shaky breath, her emotions starting to come through somewhat. "So, I spanked her. Then, she quieted right down. I put her to bed again, on her back, the way you're supposed to, and immediately went back to sleep, and the next morning, when I woke up, she was just... She was cold. She wasn't breathing."

"What happened next?" Rafael asked softly.

"I tried to breathe into her mouth, but she wouldn't wake up," the young woman forced out. "She was dead. And I... I just panicked and I buried her. If my mom had've found out..."

"You were only thinking of yourself, Allison," Rafael said with a sigh. "You were afraid you would be blamed."

"No. I killed her," Allison forced out. "Oh, my God. I must have hit her so hard, I killed my baby." A small sob escaped.

Rafael sighed. "No, you didn't."

"I don't understand," Allison muttered.

"Mackenzie died from SIDS," Rafael said softly. "It's also commonly called Crib Death."

The young woman blinked. "What?"

He eyed the defence attorney as he stood up to take his leave. "I'll expect your client to be at her first therapy session tomorrow morning."

As he walked out the door he could still make out Allison speaking with Devere, clearly figuring out what had just happened. "He tricked me?"

Somehow the drive to the 1-6 felt much longer than the earlier drive out of Manhattan to Rikers Island had. He was more than glad to finally get out of his car when he was outside of the precinct at last.

Once inside, he immediately filled the squad in. "For heaven's sake, Rafa!" Olivia said, shaking her head slightly. Her eyes were sparkling with fond amusement. "You really never do things halfway."

"She could've walked," he said, "but I wanted to give her the chance to grow up. I just hope the girl actually uses it."

"She will be paying for this for the rest of her life," Rollins stated, "but you did the right thing. She needed help not more punishment."

"I concur," Carisi chimed in.

Fin gave both blonds a pointed look. "After what she put the city through..."

"I know, Fin," Rollins said, "but being young and scared isn't a crime."

Fin shrugged rather noncommittally before he spoke. "Look, I'm glad she at least got community service, is all I'm sayin'."

"Well," Olivia said, glancing at them all, "it's been a long day and several of us have two kids and a sitter on the meter. Go home and I'll see you guys in the morning."

Tamin smiled. "Okay."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Fin quipped, already going to grab his keys, Carisi immediately starting to do the same.

Rafael shook his head and surreptitiously squeezed his wife's hand. "You have no idea how good TV in bed sounds right now."

She chuckled softly. "Oh, I have some idea."

"Have a good night guys," Carisi said, taking Rollins' hand to walk her out to the car they'd come to work in.

There was a chorus of "Night!" and "Good night!" as everyone grabbed their things and got ready to head out the door.

They were all feeling a little worn out by the case and couldn't wait to go home to their own beds and put the mess behind them as much as possible.

It had been a long couple of days. Way too long.


	137. Chapter 137

He sighed as he rummaged through yet another one of the numerous boxes that he'd brought down from the attic that morning. Somehow they'd managed to accrue an insane amount of stuff the last year or so in particular, and Rafael had been charged with rectifying the current disaster what was their attic. He'd been at it most of the morning. "Tenemos un montón de tarecos." He shook his head, pulling an item out. "Bueno, está roto." He looked over at Noah who was playing with his lego off to the side. "Mijo, ¿puedes tirar esto en la bolsa de basura de allí para mí por favor?" (We have a ton of junk. Well, this is broken. Mijo, can you please throw this in the garbage bag over there for me?)

"¿Por qué no lo haces?" the young boy said with a slight whine. "No quiero." (Why don't you do it? I don't want to.)

Rafael shot his son a stern look. Whining was one thing that quickly got on his nerves, especially when it was happening as often as it seemed to be lately. "Me importa tres pepinos, Muchacho. Tu mamá y yo estamos ocupados limpiando y puedes ayudarnos un poco." (I really couldn't care less, kid. Your mom and I are busy cleaning and you can help us out a little.)

"Claro, Papi," Noah replied, quickly making his way over to where Rafael was so he could do as asked. "Pero, ¿qué es un tareco?" The boy had clearly caught the word Rafael had used earlier. (Sure, Papi. But, what is a tareco?)

"Un viejo objeto inútil," he explained as he passed Noah several small objects to toss into the garbage bag and resumed his rummaging. "También puedes decir _trasto_." He gestured to the boxes. "Como esto..." He swiftly pulled out Noah's old, clearly damaged, LeapFrog. "No funciona y ocupa espacio." (An old, useless, object. You can also say _trasto_. Like this... It doesn't work and takes up space.)

Noah shrugged. "Funcionó bien." (It worked just fine.)

He tousled his son's hair. "Y luego decidiste que el pobrecito debería aprender a volar." (And then you decided that the poor thing should learn how to fly.)

Noah raised an eyebrow, eyes sparkling with clear amusement. "Se me cayó la cosa por las escaleras," came the seven-year-old's retort. (I dropped the thing down the stairs.)

"Es exactamente lo que dije," he said cheekily. (That's exactly what I said.)

Noah rolled his eyes. "Bicho raro." (Weirdo.)

He shook his head slightly, feigning a bit of exaggerated disapproval at the seven-year-olds cheeky remark. "Los muchachos de hoy... No tienen respeto." (Kids these days... They have no respect.)

His son immediately gave a little snort at that comment. "Te quiero, pero eres un poco extraño." (I love you, but you're a little weird.)

He chuckled. "Quiero que sepas, chico, que tu papá no solo es cómico, pero también es inteligente. Muy inteligente." (I'll have you know, kid, that your dad is not only funny but is intelligent too. Very intelligent.)

The seven-year-old looked at him with what could only be described as pure mirth. "¡Qué sonso eres!" (You're so silly!)

He ruffled the boy's hair playfully. "Tenemos algo en común entonces." (We have something in common then.)

Rafael quickly wrapped up what he was doing, finally, and closed the box, putting it off to the side so that he could put the boxes and things that they were keeping back in the attic later on.

Noah helped him take the garbage outside to the bin which Rafael really appreciated while Olivia continued to deal with Sofía, the bathroom, laundry, and a couple of other things that needed to be done.

As he came down from putting the last box back up in the attic, he sat down beside Noah - who had resumed playing with his lego - on the couch. "¿Terminaste de ordenar tu cuarto como te pedí?" (Did you finish tidying up your bedroom like I asked?)

The boy nodded, putting his lego down on the coffee table and looking at Rafael. "Sí. ¿Puedo ir a jugar en el jardín ahora?" (Yes. Can I go play in the yard now?)

"Claro," he agreed easily. Noah had been a huge help that morning and could help a whole lot with the other things they needed to do anyway. "Te llamaré cuando sea hora de almorzar." (Sure. I'll call you when it's time for lunch.)

"¡Gracias!" As the boy spoke he was bolting for the entranceway to grab his running shoes and his soccer ball.

He shook his head amused as Noah went bolting by him yet again on his way outside. "¡Oye! ¡Cuidado con la puerta del patio!" (Hey! Watch out for the patio door!)

With Noah out of the way, he threw a few pieces of the boy's lego back on the table and swept the mess leftover from all the boxes. He then grabbed the fabuloso, the mop and the mop bucket, quickly washing the floor.

Once that was done, he made his way upstairs to where he could hear Olivia prattling about something or other, Sofía rather contentedly in her carrier.

He placed his hands on Olivia's waist from behind and turned her around so he could give her a quick kiss on the cheek. "How's it going in here?" he inquired.

"Oh, it's going," Olivia said, "but I think _someone_ needs to be changed, and one of us still has to make a grocery run for the coming week at some point today."

"I've got her," Rafael said, putting his hands out to take Sofía as his wife started to take her out of the carrier. "Once she's changed I'll put her in her bouncer downstairs and start on lunch so you can finish up here. I'll make a grocery run this afternoon."

"Sounds good," she said, giving him a quick peck on the lips before going back to folding the laundry scattered on their bed. "Can you take those -" she gestured to a pile of clothes. "- and put them in Noah's room on your way down."

He readjusted his hold on Sofía - who clearly smelled of the agua de violeta that they'd been given the last time his aunt had come down from Miami. He then grabbed the pile of laundry, and headed to Noah's room, leaving the boy's clothes in a neat pile on his bed for the boy to put away later. He was more than old enough to do it in Rafael's opinion. He then headed downstairs, changed Sofía, got her settled, and started rummaging through the kitchen for something to throw together for lunch.

They still had some plantains, so he grabbed those for maduros and put them on the counter, took out some eggs to fry, grabbed the white rice, and grabbed the few things that he needed for a tomato and avocado salad.

He took several plates and cups down and placed them on the counter for Noah, grabbed Sofía, and made his way to the backyard. "Noah, ven y pon la mesa para el almuerzo por favor!" (Noah, come and set the table for lunch please!)

"¡Ok, Papi! Noah said, immediately stopped his game and making his way over to him. "Lo haré después de lavarme las manos." (I'll do it after I wash my hands.)

He gave a little half-nod. "Está bien." (That's fine.)

The pair then walked inside and while Noah was washing his hands, Rafael went upstairs to let Olivia know that lunch was ready.

He grabbed Sofía some yogurt as well as some mashed banana to eat while Noah set the table. He then made the little girl a bottle while he waited for his wife to join them. He had to chuckle though when he kept trying to take his glasses off. Again. "Princesa, por enésima vez, necesito estos espejuelos. No son un juguete." (Princesa, for the millionth time, I need these glasses. They're not a toy.)

The little girl giggled as Rafael playfully tickled her toes.

"What's going on in here?" Olivia questioned, smiling warmly, a lilt of amusement in her voice as she spoke.

"Oh, the usual," he deadpanned while tapping his glasses.

Olivia shook her head fondly. "Of course. I should've known."

Noah's stomach growled. "Can we eat now?"

"Yes," he said with a soft chuckle, "we can eat now."

They sat around, chatting over food, and Rafael gave Sofía a bit of the mashed banana and yogurt. Once Sofía had eaten that, Olivia took her to give Rafael a chance to eat, starting to give Sofía her bottle as the little girl was still hungry.

He had to stifle his reaction when Noah got their attention and gestured to Rafael's cup of coffee and looked between both parents. "Why can't I have coffee?"

Olivia gave their son a sideways look, eyes shinning with amusement. "Because it'll make you more energetic than you already are."

He waved the comment off. "Liv, if you think mami hasn't been letting him have sips of her café con leche when she babysits, I'm sorry to tell you..." He knew his mother and she wasn't about to find an issue with Noah having a bit of coffee. He didn't either, honestly. He'd grown up drinking it.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm aware, thank you, Rafa."

Noah raised an eyebrow. "So...?"

He gave his wife a sideways smile. "Liv?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "You can have_ a sip."_

Noah smirked as he grabbed Rafael's cup and pulled it towards him. "Gracias." (Thanks.)

She shook her head in fond exasperation. "Cheeky brat."


	138. Chapter 138

Easter Sunday, sleeping in for the Barba-Benson household was out of the question. Noah was up first thing and Rafael and Olivia woke up to him jumping on their bed.

"Mama... Papi..." the boy said softly when he heard Rafael grumble something groggily. "The Easter Bunny came!"

Olivia sat up in bed, but it took him a minute to accept there was no way Noah was going to let him go back to bed. Not that he was surprised either though.

Rafael yawned. "The Easter Bunny came?" Perks of picking up things all year and stashing them in a closet so their son didn't find them.

"Uh-huh!" Noah said enthusiastically. "There's a bunch of chocolate on the couch and a blue bunny stuffy!"

"That's great, Sweetie!" Olivia said, managing to sound more awake than Rafael was able to pull off at the moment. "Why don't you go get dressed? And then you can see if he hid any eggs while your dad and I get ready."

"Okay, Mama!" the boy chimed, immediately running from the room.

Once he left the room, Olivia leaned over and kissed his head. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead." She pulled the covers back, getting out of bed. "I'll go throw on some coffee for you."

"You have no idea how good coffee sounds right about now," he said as he forced himself to get out of the warm bed.

She chuckled. "I have some idea."

Once everyone was up and dressed, Noah did a little Easter egg hunt around the house and Rafael made pancakes and bacon for breakfast.

After that, it was late enough that they called a few friends and family and talked to them for a bit. It felt a little weird not going to Mass at all for Holy Week on Rafael's end, but it was what it was.

After they talked with her, they started lounging around the house. Olivia and Rafael were reading something or other and playing with Sofía while Noah played with his lego and watched some TV.

Eventually, they found out that the kitchen sink wasn't draining, so Rafael set to work on fixing that. Or trying to, anyway. He made it worse because afterwards, they had another issue as the faucet started dripping.

So, he googled how to repair it and threw on one of the sketches of a well known Cuban comedian that he more or less grew up listening to with his abuelo for some background noise while he was messing around with the plumbing.

He'd thrown on one of his favourite jokes. It was an extremely entertaining one about a Cuban who went Pennsylvania because they were tired of Miami and had a trying time once they got there. The weather, naturally, being a huge issue. It was told like a series of diary entries. The story was almost over when Olivia heard him laughing rather hard and came to see just what was going on.

She just stopped at the door and listened. The youtube video with the audio was still playing off of his phone: _'Me mudé para Miami. ¡Esto sí que es vida, coño! ¡Calor, humedad, ciclones, café cubano…! ¡Para vivir en el Pensilvania de mierda ese hay que estar loco!' __(__I moved to Miami. This is life, damn it! Heat, humidity, cyclones, Cuban coffee...! To live in shitty Pennsylvania you have to be crazy!)_

_"_Álvarez Guedes?" she asked, although it was more of a statement.

The man was a foul-mouthed comedian who seemed to thrive on telling rather politically incorrect jokes.

He was the first mainstream Cuban comic to incorporate profanity into his act and his jokes were structured like short stories. They often tied in the challenges associated with being in between two cultures and two languages. The Cuban exile would often switch between Spanish and English in mid joke.

He nodded, giving her a goofy smile. He was a bit surprised she remembered the name actually, as she'd only listened to the Cuban comedian once as far as he knew. "Good memory." He adopted a way more serious expression, although it took a lot of effort not to crack up. "¡Me voy pa' Miami, coño!" (I'm going to Miami, damn it!)

She shook her head in amusement. "¡No sin mí, no lo eres!" He stuck his tongue out a bit childishly which just made her shake her head more. "You almost done in here or do you want to try and call a plumber?" (Not without me, you aren't!)

He waved the concern off. "I almost got it figured out." There was absolutely no point in paying someone for what he could do himself easily enough.

"Okay," she said with a light chuckle. "I'll leave you to it then."

The door closed behind her a moment later and Rafael went back to messing around with the plumbing, which, thankfully, didn't take too much longer to sort out.

He washed up, changed his shirt that had gotten soaked, and then found that Olivia almost had lunch ready.

He gave her a quick kiss. "Lunch smells good, Cariño."

She smiled, giving him another quick kiss before she spoke. "Chicken noodle soup, baked zucchini, and grilled cheese sandwiches."

He grinned. "Sounds perfect."

Rafael grunted as Noah chose then to come flying into the room, running into him. Noah looked up at him sheepishly. "Sorry."

He shook his head in fond exasperation. "Maybe we could try walking rather than running everywhere helter-skelter as you're wont to do?"

"I second your dad's suggestion," Olivia said as she ruffled the boy's hair. "You'd definitely have fewer accidents."

Noah just rolled his eyes. "I only wanted to tell you that I finished setting the table."

Rafael smiled down at the boy. "It's appreciated, but maybe we could be just a little calmer about it next time?"

The seven-year-old nodded, the sheepish smile still on his face. "Okay, Papi. Sorry."

"It's fine, Kiddo!" he assured the boy. "Just be more careful in the future."

Lunch passed without much fanfare and then they played a board game and went outside for a bit, passing the ball around.

Eventually, Rafael did some light disinfecting and his mother popped in to join them for dinner. They put some music on and just enjoyed each other's company. Things were rather stressful right now, and they needed the time to just focus on them. As a family. No work or the rest of everything else that was going on interfering.


	139. Chapter 139

"Let go of me!" the woman screamed.

"You're lying, you son of a bitch!" the man yelled. He turned to the law enforcement officials that were present. "She is certifiable!"

"That is enough," Olivia said, glancing between Michael and Carolyn. "Both of you stop." Olivia eyed the wife. "Carolyn, have a seat. Can you please tell me exactly what you saw?"

"He was in my son's bedroom," the woman explained. "Lock him up!"

"I was just holding him," Michael shot back.

"Holding him?" Carolyn sneered.

"Oh! Whoa, whoa!" Fin said as the wife went to attack her, well, soon-to-be-ex-husband, by the looks of things.

"Hey, Carolyn, enough!" Olivia said. "Sit down!" Of course, neither adult stopped. The woman was clearly seeing red. "Whoa! Hey!"

Both parents were still yelling, and once the man could get a word in edgewise all he said was, "She's crazy. You see that?"

"I swear," the son, Nathaniel, said after a moment, "nothing happened..." He glanced at his stepfather and mother. "Except for my mom trying to ruin my life."

That started the parents back up again and the boy started to run for it, heading to his bedroom. "Nate!" Carolyn called after her son.

The woman tried to follow her son down the hall to his bedroom, but Olivia immediately went to stop her, not wanting the parents to make things even worse than they already were. "Mrs. Banks-"

"Wait," Rafael said, eyeing Olivia, "Let me speak with him."

Olivia nodded her consent. Fin had to keep both Carolyn and Michael from following Rafael as he headed down the hallway to the room that he'd seen Nathaniel enter moments earlier.

"Can we talk?" Rafael asked, taking a seat on the bed beside the boy.

"Fine," the kid mumbled.

"What happened, Nathaniel?"

"Nothing..."

"Nathaniel, you can tell me."

"I can't."

"Yeah, you can."

"Tell me," Rafael said softly. "We'll stop him."

"I can't..."

Rafael played his face for a minute. The only thing coming to his mind to do was the one thing he never wanted to do. This was not the situation he expected to find himself in when they left to drop the kids off at his mother's for a sleepover that night.

They'd been on their way home when Olivia got the call, and they'd just went straight to the scene, not bothering to drop Rafael off.

Even knowing it was a call for a domestic, he hadn't expected _this_.

He took a shaky breath and used the mask he'd perfected as a child to hide the fact he honestly wanted to cry even thinking about everything that had happened all those years ago. He'd built the mask to near perfection, still, unbeknownst to him, his hands clenched into fists. "You know... when I was a kid, my uncle... He lived with us for about a year and a half." He licked his lips. "He'd wake me up right after my parents went to sleep. He'd tell me he loved me and-"

Nathaniel looked at him with wide eyes. "You mean, you were…"

"Yeah," Rafael said, forcing the words passed for the very first time in his life. "I was molested, raped, by my uncle."

"But it's my dad," the boy whispered brokenly.

"I know," Rafael said, "but what he is doing... that's not love." He eyed the boy. "My father hurt me too, beat me, so I get it, kid, but -"

Nathaniel flopped back on his pillow. "He said that he'd been good to me and that now I had to be good to him. At first... He'd make me undress in front of him... And take pictures."

"And then what happened?" Rafael asked softly.

"For a while," the nine-year-old said, tears falling freely, "it was just the pictures. But then one day he said he needed to videotape me."

He nodded, swallowing the bile in his throat. "Nathaniel, these tapes and photos... Do you know where your stepdad keeps them?"

The boy dipped his head slightly. "In a box in his study."

"Okay," he said, giving the boy a reassuring smile. "Thank you for talking to me."

As he made his way out of the room, he registered Olivia and Fin standing there, and it felt like he was hit with a bucket of ice water.

Olivia looked at him with something akin to pity, and Fin, thankfully, decided to focus on the present, reading Michael Banks his Miranda rights and cuffing him.

After what felt like ages to Rafael, the awkward car ride not helping matters, they finally pulled into their driveway.

Once they were inside, they took a seat at the island in the kitchen and she poured them both a drink.

He took a sip, savouring it. He tilted his head back as he took another swig of the alcohol, relishing the slight burning sensation as it went down his throat.

After a moment, Olivia broke the silence. "Rafael?" she said softly, trying to open the door for him, to make the conversation easier somehow. "Was it Mauricio or?"

He took another gulp of scotch. "God no. I wouldn't have let him near Noah if it was him..." She visibly relaxed at that. "Dear dad had another brother. Eugenio. He... It only went on for a few months," Rafael said, waving the concern off, as he finally spoke. "Haven't talked to him in over a decade."

"Rafa..." She shook her head. "_Only_? Don't try and mitigate it. Once or a dozen times, rape is rape. What was done to you..."

"It was years ago," he said, "it's not a big deal."

Olivia eyed him. "I don't believe that for a second. And neither do you."

"No," he admitted, "but it's firmly in the past where it belongs." He gave her a ghost of a smile. "Mami kicked him out, you know... she never said anything, but I think she suspected..." He shrugged. "I don't know."

"You never told her or anyone?" Olivia inquired.

He gave a sardonic laugh. "Didn't think my old man would care, and my mother had enough to contend with... And, honestly, the mere thought of her knowing _was_ and _is_ absolutely mortifying. And it took me longer than I'd like to admit for me to realize it wasn't my fault." He took a deep breath and leaned in to give his wife a kiss on the forehead. "He isn't worth a second more of my time, Liv. So, let's bury this, okay?"

She nodded. "As long as you know I'm here if you need to talk."

He gave her a grateful smile. "I know."


	140. Chapter 140

"Medical tests on Nathaniel came back positive for chlamydia," Rollins informed him. "And the doc found extensive anal fissures."

Those were the words wracking through his brain as he made the drive to the Banks home. Last night had been bad enough, Rafael getting next to no sleep after his conversation with Olivia, but things just kept getting better, it seemed. The only upside was that they had more evidence against Michael... The downside? The poor kid just couldn't seem to catch a break.

Everything that had happened with the biological father, then the mess with the pathetic excuse of a 'stepfather.'

And Rafael was honestly still reeling. He'd pushed everything down for so long, trying not to think about what had happened, and a lot of it had come flooding back. He'd woken Olivia up at two in the morning because of a nightmare, which he'd found a bit embarrassing, despite knowing that Olivia was the last person on Earth who would judge him for having a rough night given everything.

He did feel he had to get a grip on himself, though. It had been years. It belonged firmly locked in the past.

He was greeted rather warmly by Carolyn and Nathaniel, and all of them made their way to the living room, taking a seat on the couch to talk.

"Michael made bail an hour ago," Rafael informed them. It was unfortunate, but not altogether unexpected. It had been completely against Rafael's recommendation, however, as he'd wanted remand.

Carolyn nodded. "Alright."

"I'm sorry it took me so long to tell the truth," Nathaniel mumbled.

"What?" the woman said. "No. No, no, no, no, no. None of what happened is your fault. Do you understand, Nate?"

The boy shrugged.

"Nathaniel," she said. "You did nothing wrong. Nothing."

"Your mother's right, Nathaniel." He tried to give the boy a reassuring look. "Your stepdad is sick and he made bad choices. It's not your fault."

The boy licked his lips and swallowed anxiously. After a moment, however, he nodded. He clearly didn't want to speak, so neither adult pushed it.

"Well... It's time to pack, kiddo," Carolyn said sadly. "Why don't you go and throw some things into your suitcase and backpack that you want?"

"Where are we going?" Nathaniel inquired.

"I don't know," Carolyn admitted, "but we _will_ find a place."

He eyed them. "There's no reason you should have to move."

Olivia's comment after the Renee Clark assault came to mind.

_"I can ask for a temporary restraining order," Rafael said pointedly, "but maybe she should change dorms."_

_"Ah," Olivia shot back, "so it's the victim who should change her life?"_

She'd had a very, very, valid point. Still, there was only so much they could do to help a victim. They always tried their best, though.

Carolyn eyed him. "But Michael pays the mortgage, And he's never given me any of the passwords," she said. "To any of our accounts."

"Here's what you do," he said softly. "Go to the bank and show them your ID. Then you empty the shared account and open a new one in your name. After that, come home and change the locks to the doors here. I'll help you take out an Order of Protection as well."

"We can do that?" the woman said, clearly a little stunned.

"You're married," he deadpanned. "What's his is yours." He raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't get this advice from me."

She exhaled deeply, visibly relieved that she wasn't going to end up homeless. "Damn, man, you got a little gangster in you, huh?"

He smirked. "Never mess with a kid with a smart mouth from the South Bronx. We tend to, uh, keep people on their toes, shall we say."

She laughed. "I'll say!"

He chatted with them for a few more minutes, before taking his leave and heading to the Bronx to pick up the kids and go home for the rest of the afternoon.

Noah chatted his ear off the entire drive home about the fun he'd had with his grandmother.

Rafael then decided to mess with Noah a bit when his son was still chatting animatedly on the way to the front door.

He grabbed the kid and started singing and tickling him. _"Cuando vayas a la carnicería... No me traigas carne ni de aquí...!"_

"¡Ay, Papi!" Noah squealed, laughing. "¡Papi!"

_"¡Ni de aquí! ¡Ni de aquí! ¡Ni de aquí...!" he continued. "¡Sino de aquí qui qui qui qui!"_

"¡Papi!" Noah said, trying to catch his breath in between fits of squirming and laughter. "¡Para, por favor!" (Papi! Stop, please!)

He stopped, putting the boy down and smiling at him. "De acuerdo, he terminado. Venga," he said with a vague gesture towards the door. "Vayamos adentro." (Okay, I'm done. Come on. Let's go inside.)

He played with the kids for a bit and then started making dinner while Noah read one of his comic books. Sofía was sitting contentedly in her bouncer, for the time being, so Rafael was actually able to focus on cooking.

"Papi, ¿puedes poner música?" Noah called from the living room. Apparently walking to the kitchen was a bit too much to ask, but he didn't really mind as it wasn't excessive or anything. (Papi, can you put some music on?)

"¡Claro!" he replied. He wasn't about to say no to music, and had been considering it himself already. "¿Alguna canción en particular?" (Sure! Any song in particular?)

"¡No lo sé!" Noah yelled back. "¡Tú decides!" (I don't know! You decide!)

He rummaged through his music for a moment before settling on one of his favourite Benny Moré songs for them to listen to. The man was definitely way up there on Rafael's list of favourite Latin artists. Benny Moré was called _El Bárbaro del Ritmo_ for a reason. He was a great artist.

Dinner was two minutes from being ready, if even that, when his wife finally walked through the front door.

He gave his wife a quick kiss when she walked into the kitchen a few moments after she got home. "Welcome home."

"Hmmm," his wife said, "what smells good?"

"Picadillo with rice and plantains," he murmured, giving her another kiss.

"Can't wait," she murmured against his lips.

"Ew!" Noah exclaimed. "Coodies!"

Both Olivia and Rafael laughed fully at the antics. Rafael then glanced at Noah, humour shining in his eyes. "A few coodies never hurt anyone."

Noah rolled his eyes. "It's gross."

Olivia laughed. "Keep on thinking that, Sweetie. I'm more than happy with that."

He tousled the boy's hair. "As am I, Mijo."


	141. Chapter 141

The following month and a half flew by, and, thankfully, things had started to return to normal. Slowly but surely. Businesses were starting to reopen, and a lot of people were going back to work, although students were still being distance educated as there was no real point in the city reopening all the schools for a mere two weeks that remained of the school year. It was simply too close to summer vacation for it to make any sense, so the schools weren't going to reopen until the fall.

Still, Noah was thrilled he could play with his friends again, and Rafael couldn't blame the kid. The boy had spent a lot of time cooped up the past few months. They all had, but it was doubly hard when you were a kid and didn't necessarily understand the scope of what had been going on. The _why _of it all.

It took close to another month, however, before things genuinely started to feel like they were really getting back to normal. Still, during 9/11 and now, New Yorkers had proven themselves to be highly resilient.

The lighter atmosphere of was also due to them finally completing their last home check, and Chantal Jackson officially recommending that they be approved as adoptive parents. All they were really waiting on now was the finalization hearing and then Sofía would really be theirs.

That was a huge weight off their chests, because they adored Sofía. The thought of her being taken away in and of itself was painful. She was their daughter in every way that mattered. Even if they did try and keep it in the back of their minds that a biological relative might claim her.

Having the paper confirming it, though, was going to be huge, so they were hoping to get a court date with Family Court sooner rather than later.

As for Rafael specifically, the feeling of being on edge that he'd had since the Banks debacle had largely faded, and, although he'd had a few rough nights, it was largely shoved back in the past where he felt it most belonged.

Work hadn't slowed down any, and after court one mid-july morning, Rafael found himself being called down to the precinct for reasons he never expected.

"Where's the fire?" he asked, curious about what exactly Olivia didn't want to discuss over the phone but was somehow work related. The squad seemed happy to let Olivia speak, Fin included, which just made him more uncomfortable. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to fill me in, Captain, or am I supposed to guess?"

She gave him a funny look. "It's regarding the Dehlia Hughes case."

Two days ago a woman named Dahlia had come in, reporting a sexual video of her that had been uploaded without her consent.

She worked for his old friend Alistair Woodford's dance company, and after rehearsals for the ballet_ 'Moulin Boheme'_ the ballerina went with her boyfriend, one of the male dancers, Brad Fournier, to this secret spot - Studio X. They had sex.

Two days later, Miss Hughes found out, by accident at the end of a children's ballet class that she'd been teaching, that a video of her had gone viral on several rather unsavoury websites, also costing her the teaching job. Someone had recorded the couple having sex without permission.

Dehlia came down to SVU the next day to report the video that she'd found. She was adamant that Brad was a nice guy and didn't do it, pleading with them to get the videos taken down. Something that wasn't going to be easy. Still, Rollins was working with TARU to get as much taken down as she could.

Fin and Tamin then spoke with Brad who was surprised to hear about the video and asked how it had happened. He assured them that he had absolutely no idea that he and his girlfriend were being recorded.

The man had also commented on how it must have been a camera hidden in the studio, adding that Dehlia and himself weren't the only people to hook up in there. It was a hotspot, he explained, as it was rather secluded and locked from the inside. When Officer Tamin asked him about who knew about it, Brad just replied that it was the company's worst kept secret.

They hadn't been able to get much information as to what happened, so earlier today Olivia and Carisi had payed a visit to the _National Ballet Theater._

He gave her a sideways looks. "What happened during your little fishing expedition down at the theatre?"

She raised an eyebrow in a gesture very like him. "He name dropped you in the first five seconds of me being there, and then after I pointed out things might be more serious than an HR issue, he said he hoped we could keep this private."

He gave her a look of disbelief. "He name dropped me?"

"She's not remotely exaggerating," Carisi said. "He worked you in as soon as he could. He wanted us to know you two went way back. He also claimed you gave him a heads up about _the_ _situation_."

He shook his head. "You've got to be kidding me." He frowned at Olivia. "I didn't tell Alistair a damn thing, and we've never even been particularly close."

"Oh, I believe you completely," Olivia said, "We all do, but it's definitely not a good look for him. Or you for that matter."

He sighed. "This entire thing smells like bad cheese."

He hoped Alistair wasn't seriously involved in the mess. but he had the same sinking feeling in his gut that he did when Alejandro was starting to show his true colours. Rafael preferred not to make the same mistake twice.

"You have weird friends, Counsellor," Fin said.

He rolled his eyes. "Well, yes, I'm your friend, aren't I?"

Carisi sniggered, causing Rafael's lips to quirk upwards.

Rollins gave him a funny look. "What are you going to do?"

He gave them all a pointed look. "What I should of done during the Muñoz debacle... Recuse myself. I'll tell McCoy where he can shove it if he doesn't like it, but I am so not getting dragged into this ridiculousness."

"Alright," Olivia said. "Any idea what ADA you want to hand the case over to?"

"Casey Novak," he said thoughtfully. "If this goes sideways, she's dealt with massive blowups more than enough times to keep it under control, and Alistair has a flare for the dramatic... things could get interesting."

Olivia nodded. "I'll let you call her then."

He grabbed his phone, pulling up the Senior ADA's contact information and pressing call. He eyed Olivia. "This should be short but not sweet."

Olivia waved the comment off. "It'll be fine. It's Casey."

He snorted. "Have you seen that woman when she's rilled up?"

Fin eyed him before speaking in a clearly teasing voice. "You do realize who you married, right, man?"

Olivia gave Fin a sideways look that was somewhere between fond amusement and incredulousness. "HEY!"

He smirked and put a hand on Olivia's shoulder. "Yes, and I wouldn't have her any other way. Fervency and all."

Olivia chuckled. "Nice save there, Island Boy."

He just crinkled his nose happily before giving her a quick kiss. "You know I love you."


	142. Chapter 142

The next couple of days proved interesting, and before Rafael knew it, he was getting an update from Olivia and Novak that he really didn't like.

He'd been coming out of closing arguments for one of his cases when he spotted the pair off to the side, clearly waiting for him.

Brad was behind the filing and another male dancer, Jason, was involved. Sasha, the producer, had given Alistair the videos of the dancers. Alistair than used them to blackmail the ballerinas.

Alistair tried to pin it all on the producer and said that whatever he did, he did it to subsidize art. Olivia and Novak pushed to have the man charged as a sex trafficker.

It didn't take long however before Sasha and Alistair took deals for felonies, agreeing to do prison time. Jason only got a few months, and they were still working to get the videos taken down. Brad and the third male dancer, Edward, were fired.

Dehlia and one of the other ballerinas ended up deciding to sue the National as well and were looking at a very well earned payout.

He shook his head. "I'm glad this mess is over."

Olivia gave him a sad smile. "Justice is sure damn messy sometimes."

He gave her a half-nod. "You can say that again." He eyed Novak. "You've handled this mess rather well, though."

Novak had a self-assured look on her face. "I'm a big girl. I know how to swim." She glanced between Olivia and Rafael. "I've got to run to another meeting, but hopefully this afternoon goes a little smoother."

Olivia gave a little snort. "That'll be the day."

With court largely done for the day, he went back to his office to manage some of his other files and return a few work calls that he'd missed.

He managed to get a fair amount done, thankfully, before he was called back to court three hours later as the jury had reached a verdict. It hadn't been one of his best cases, the key witness being a bit of a hot mess, and, unfortunately, he lost the case by a small margin.

Unfortunately, it was what it was. So, he shrugged it off, finished a couple of things up, and headed home to relieve Lucy for five o'clock while Olivia dealt with a new case that her squad had caught late that afternoon. She'd already texted him to let him know she'd probably be at work quite late.

He was immediately greeted by Lucy and the kids when he walked through the door. He glanced at Lucy for a moment before turning his attention to taking off his dress shoes and his suit vest. "How did your day go?"

"Good," Lucy said with a warm smile. "Noah actually made a new friend today."

He raised an eyebrow, turning his gaze to Noah. "Oh?"

"We went to the park today," his son explained happily. "This kid named Blake was there and we played the entire time."

He smiled, ruffling his son's hair playfully. "I'm glad you had fun. Did you get your schoolwork done?"

Noah nodded exuberantly. "Uh-huh."

"Perfect," he said, turned back to Lucy and hold his arms out to take Sofía. He adjusted his hold on Sofía slightly then spoke. "How's Toni doing?"

"He's doing well," she said, "thanks for asking. He's glad to finally be back to work. His grandparents were starting to drive him crazy as well. Especially his abuelo when they ran out of coffee."

Rafael immediately chuckled. "No coffee... that's basically torture."

"From the sound of things," she quipped, "his abuelo is worse than even you."

Noah chuckled. "You _do_ like your coffee."

He gave a little hum, a pleased look on his face. "You're not wrong."

They talked for a little bit and then Lucy left. Rafael emptied the dishwasher and then took the kids to the grocery store to get some much-needed grocery shopping done, that they hadn't had the chance to do that weekend.

While they were walking back to the car after grocery shopping, Noah asked if they could go to the bookstore to gets some new books. They had time so Rafael took him to Barnes & Noble, but reminded Noah that they _did_ have groceries in the car that needed to go in the fridge so they couldn't stay too long.

After the bookstore, Rafael quickly stopped at a small Latin bodega near their home to get a couple of other odds and ends he had he hadn't been able to get at the Westside Market before they finally went home.

He put Sofía on the ground in the living room with a couple of her toys and had Noah in there with her while he put the groceries away. He was caught off guard however when Noah yelled out for him to come there. Worried that something was wrong, he immediately rushed to the living room.

Once there, though, it was clear everything was fine. His jaw had dropped slightly, however, when Sofía was stumbling away from the coffee table... he blinked. Sofía was actually walking. Not crawling. Walking.

A huge grin on his face, he moved closer to Sofía, kneeling slightly. There was still some distance between them, but the little girl would still have to take a couple of steps to reach him. "Ven acá, Mijita," he said, gesturing as he spoke. He was hoping to coax Sofía into walking over. "Ven a papá." (Come here, baby girl. Come to Dad.)

It took another long moment, but then it happened. He waved one of the blocks she'd been playing with and Sofía had looked at him, babbled something, and with her arms out took a couple of shaky steps towards him. She fell, but pushed herself back up and took another couple of steps before falling again, Rafael catching her as she did so.

Filled with pride, he gently stood her back up and chuckled when she immediately said "Papá" and made a move to grab the toy that he was holding.

He looked at his son, still grinning from ear to ear. "Noah, ¿puedes recoger uno de los juguetes de tu hermanita y llamarla?" (Noah, can you pick up one of your little sister's toys and call her over?)

Rafael pulled out his phone as Noah did so, intending to record it. It didn't take long before the almost-twelve-month-old wobbled her way back over to her big brother, falling unceremoniously into Noah's lap once she'd reached him.

She started squirming a few moments later and swiftly made her way back over to Rafael, only falling once. "Bien hecho, mi princesita," he said as he played with the little girl, causing her to babble happily. (Well done, my little princess.)

He quickly sent the video to Olivia, unable to wipe off the huge grin that was still on his face. Sofía was growing up so fast, and it was honestly incredible to see how much she'd grown and learned in just under a year.

He did feel bad that Olivia had missed one of Sofía's firsts, though, which is why he had filmed it for her. The entire thing made him even more glad that they'd finally gotten a date for their Adoption Finalization hearing with Family Court.

His phone vibrated and he pulled out his phone to see a text from his wife. _'Awe! She walked! Thanks for sending me that. I'm glad you were able to get it.'_

He quickly texted her back. '_Of course, mi amor. Although, I may have had some help from Noah on the filming front.'  
_

Another text from her._ 'Hey, team work makes the dream work. Just wish I was home to see it. Our baby girl is growing up so fast!'_

Wasn't that the truth._ 'Yeah. Much too fast.'_


	143. Chapter 143

"Teníamos perros calientes, papas fritas, y este cake de helado de superhéroe realmente genial," Noah explained excitedly as he sat at the table while Olivia and Rafael ate dinner. The boy had just gotten back from his new friend blake's birthday party. Apparently, they'd recently moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan, and now lived quite close. The two boys had started playing more and more since they'd met at the park the week prior and had easily hit it off, the pair quickly becoming fast friends. "También teníamos esa cosa con trozos de fruta en un palo que mamá hizo ayer para la fiesta de Sofía." (We had hotdogs, chips, and this really cool superhero ice cream cake. We also had that thing with pieces of fruit on a stick that Mama made yesterday for Sofia's party.)

They'd thrown a little party for Sofía's birthday, which had been small but sweet. "The fruit skewers?" Rafael suggested after a second. "Las brochetas de fruta?"

The boy nodded after a moment, clearly thinking. "Sí, esos." (Yes, those.)

"English please, boys." She gave them both a small smile as she spoke. She really did love how natural the language was coming for Noah. It was a major gift, in her opinion. She was tired, though, and her Spanish still wasn't quite that polished. "I do speak Spanish, but after the week I've had... I'd rather not have to concentrate quite that hard right now."

"Okay," he said with a chuckle. He then turned his attention back to their rather excitable son. "Which superhero was on it?"

"There was a bunch all over," Noah said, taking a sip of his glass of water.

"Cool," Olivia said. "So, what games did you kids play?"

"We played Simon says," the boy started listing off. "We also played Guess and Win with these candy jars, limbo, and, oh, pin the tail on the donkey!"

"That sounds fun," Rafael said.

Noah nodded happily. "We also did a relay race and got to hit a piñata." Noah stole one of Rafael's potatoes, causing Rafael to roll his eyes. "I broke part of the bat signal off when it was my turn."

Olivia chuckled. "Attaboy, Kiddo!"

"Papi, can we get a puppy?" Noah asked after a moment.

He eyed their son. "Have you asked your mother?"

The boy shook his head in the negative. "No."

Rafael quirked an eyebrow and then glanced at Olivia. "I think that is something that your mom and I would have to discuss together."

Olivia took over from there. "Pets are a lot of work, Sweetie. You have to train it and care for it. Your dad's right. He and I need to discuss if we can actually make it work."

Rafael eyed the kid. "We'll consider getting a pet, but it's really not fair to the animal if we can't give it the attention it needs. Okay, Mijo?"

Noah nodded, seemingly satisfied with the response. "Okay."

After they finished eating, Rafael helped Olivia clean up the kitchen and they sat down to watch a movie as a family, wanting a calm end to the crazy week they'd just had.

Saturday morning, they slept in some, got dressed, and then sat down for a light breakfast. Olivia made some cereal and he and Noah had pan cubano con mantequilla and café con leche. Well, more precisely, Rafael had coffee. Noah just started sipping on it right after Rafael finished making it and went to put the still hot cafetera off to the side slightly while it cooled off.

Once they'd all finished breakfast, Olivia had the pleasure of changing Sofía's diaper, and Rafael quickly threw the dishes in the dishwasher. They then went outside to play, Rafael playing pass with Noah while Olivia pushed Sofía on the swing before the then almost-toddler made her way to the water table they'd recently bought.

They stayed in the backyard all morning, enjoying the nice weather, and eventually Rollins showed up with Carisi and the kids

They let the kids run around and play for a bit and Rafael eventually went to throw some meat on the grill for lunch and Olivia brought out the salad, chips, and coquitos acaramelados that Rafael had made earlier.

Getting Jesse and Noah to actually sit down for lunch was a bit of a project, as they wanted to keep playing, but eventually they sat down and shovelled their food down. The kids ran from the table as soon as they could to resume their game.

They then put putting Billie, Sofía, and Mason down for a nap. Rollins' nephew really was a cute little guy. He was glad Rollins still had him as her crazy mother had wanted to take custody of the boy. Because Beth Anne had done such a wonderful job in raising her own kids. It was a miracle that Rollins had turned out to be the amazing woman and mother she was despite her frankly useless parents and everything else that had happened to her.

The adults were all happily prattling away, although keeping an eye on the kids, and Rafael was chatting with Carisi when Noah decided he wanted Rafael's attention. Rafael quickly chatted with the kid, but turned his attention back to Carisi. He resumed the conversation just fine until Noah decided five minutes later to pull on his sleeve and generally just rudely interrupt. Again. He gave the boy a pointed look and spoke in a rather annoyed tone. "Los niños hablan cuando las gallinas mean." (Children don't belong in adult conversations.)

"Pero papi -" the boy started. (But papi -)

"Pero papi nada," he immediately shot back. "Interrupting people like that is very rude, Mijo. You have to wait your turn. Okay?" (But papi nothing.)

"Okay, Papi," Noah replied. "I'm sorry for interrupting."

"It's fine," Rafael said. "I know you're excited that everyone's here, but you still have to be polite." He gave the boy a small smile. "Why don't you go turn on the sprinkler for you and your cousin? Your Aunt Amanda brought her bathing suit."

Noah looked at Jesse, smiling happily once more. "Wanna, Jess?"

Jesse grinned. "YEAH!" She looked at her bag. "Mama, where's my bag?"

Rollins gestured towards the door. "It should be in the entrance way, Sweetie."

He watched in amusement as Jesse immediately ran inside to get her bathing suit. He turned to Noah. "Can you please go grab you and Jess a towel?"

"On it!" Noah chirped, running to do as ask.

He shook his head in amusement. "That kid, I swear."

"Oh, I know," Olivia said with a chuckle, "but I wouldn't change him for anything."

He crinkled his nose contentedly. "Nor would I." He turned his attention back to Carisi. "So, you were saying, Sonny?"


	144. Chapter 144

That Tuesday morning had started off rather run of the mill for the Barba-Benson household. They'd gotten up, had breakfast as a family, and his mother arrived to watch the kids as Lucy had taken a few days off to be with her family, and Olivia and Rafael kissed the kids goodbye and headed to their respective workplaces.

Rafael had a quick meeting before court, and then he headed to arraignment where he expected to spend a fair amount of his morning.

He'd gotten bail and ROR on his two arraignments that morning, and when he started his last arraignment hearing things took an interesting turn.

"On the charges of robbery, predatory sexual assault, and unlawful imprisonment," Judge Serani listed off, eyeing the defendant, "how do you plead?"

"She wasn't imprisoned," the defendant, Michael Pears, said rather defiantly.

Rafael quirked an eyebrow and was about to retort, but didn't get the chance. Apparently the Defence Attorney, Robert Kluger, wasn't quite as stupid as his client seemed to be at the moment. They'd cut a deal, and if the scumbag perp wanted to back out, Rafael had no issues destroying the guy during a trial. They had a rather strong case. He smirked to himself as defence counsel spoke. "Guilty, Your Honour."

"Your Honour," Rafael said, deciding to chime in. "The victim was an eighty-three-year-old woman. The people request remand pending sentencing."

"So ordered," the judge said. "Next case."

As he picked up his manilla folder Rafael caught Fin out of the corner of his eye, seated in the front row of the gallery. Only half paying attention he caught the judge say something about _'Jill Bailey_' as he walked over to the sergeant. "Sergeant Tutuola, what _are_ you doing here? The last and only time you sat in on one of my arraignments you cost me several nights of sleep." He never attended arraignments. He'd sit in on part of a trial, occasionally, but that was about it.

Fin gave him an amused look. "I'm not apologizing for bringin' in Byron Marks. The son of a bitch deserved it. Anyway, -" He gestured towards Michael Pears. "I just wanted to see the scumbag go down. It's good for my morale."

Rafael gave a little snort. "I won't disagree."

FiN stood up. "Good."

The pair started walking out of the courtroom when something caught Rafael's attention. He stopped in his tracks and listened. "Hold on. Hold on. This... this isn't right. I wasn't drunk."

"Ms. Bailey," Judge Serani said with a strictly-business tone, "this isn't the time nor the place to argue your case. Bailiff."

"Why is nobody listening to me?" the woman said, body language screaming that she was quite scared and confused.

"Let's go outside," Counsellor Kluger suggested calmly. "Talk."

"I don't need to talk," the woman shot back. "I need help."

Now the woman really had Rafael's undivided attention. Fin's too by the look of things; he was biting his lip. Something in Rafael's gut, trained by over two decades in this line of work, was telling him that something was very, very, wrong here.

He took a few steps forward, choosing his words very carefully when he then spoke. "Everything alright here, Counsellor?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Counsellor Kluger replied.

"No!" the girl said just under a shout. "I just realized what happened."

The rather young defence attorney tried to grab Ms. Bailey's shoulder and she immediately looked terrified. "Did I say you could touch me?!"

"Okay, just breathe," Rafael said calmly, wracking his brain for the woman's name. They had to calm her down and do it now before the woman ended up in even more legal trouble. "Jill Bailey, right?"

The brunette woman nodded tensely.

"Alright, Ms. Bailey," Rafael prodded, "can you tell me what's going on?"

"I was raped last night," she said, still rather frantic. The was playing with her arms, almost hugging herself. "And they arrested me."

He sighed and glanced at the judge. "Your honour, did she get bail or ROR?"

"She's been released on her own recognizance," Judge Serani informed him.

"Alright," he said with a slight dip of the head. He then made eye contact with the still clearly upset woman. "Why don't you come down to the station with Sergeant Tutuola and myself so we can sort this out?"

The woman seemed hesitant but then nodded her acquiescence.

It looked like today was going to be a _very_ long day.

"She was sexually assaulted and then drove her truck into a patrol car?" Olivia questioned as she walked and stirred the cup of coffee she'd been making when he walked in a few minutes prior.

"It's a mess," he said, "but her name's Jill Bailey. She's thirty-five years old and is a cupcake baker." He eyed his wife. "No priors until the DWI. Not even a parking ticket."

"What was her BSE?" the captain inquired.

"09," Fin explained without missing a beat. "Barely over the limit, but the officers that arrested her said she was wasted."

"Look," he said, "she told me that her brain wasn't working right. That nothing felt real. It sounds to me like she was drugged, Liv. What she described -"

The captain nodded as she led them into her office where the one-way mirror into _Interrogation One _was. "So twelve hours plus in holding." She started listing things off on her fingers. "She ate, she drank, she used the bathroom. So as soon as we get her statement we need to get a rape kit." She turned on the audio so they could hear what was going on.

"I was at a bar downtown," the woman explained. "With Luke... I never got his last name. We met on TrueHeart."

He shook his head, frowning, but quickly returned his attention to the interview.

"A dating app," Tamin asked in way of confirmation.

"Yeah," Ms. Bailey said. "He ordered these funky drinks. Howlers."

"Do you remember how many of those you had?" Rollins asked.

"Two," the woman immediately replied. "If that." She gave Rollins a look. "They must've been strong." She paused for a moment. "I felt... feel not myself. And then... nothing. My memory drops out."

"When does it pick back up?" Tamin questioned.

Ms. Bailey shook her head. "Trying to drive my truck, I guess." She waved her hands slightly. "I could not stay in my lane. My body wa...wasn't listening to my brain. I felt... drugged." She looked between Tamin and Rollins. "That would make sense, right?" She bit her lip. "And then it didn't hit until I was in court. That Luke had raped me."

"And what made it... click?" Rollins inquired, leaning forward slightly.

Ms. Bailey swallowed. "My clothes felt wrong... and I'm sore. I just know." She shook her head again. "I know I was raped."

"We need to contact Luke," Tamin explained gently. "Do you have his number?"

"No." The woman started rummaging through her purse for her phone. "But, I can show you the message he sent me this morning." She started hastily scrolling through her messages. "Oh, what the hell?"

"What did he say?" Rollins asked.

"He's gone," the woman explained, the confusion written all over her face. "He said he had a great time. Asked if I got home okay. I messaged back 'What did you do to me?'" She tried to find the messages again.

"And he deleted your match?" Tamin asked although it was more than a statement than an actual question. "He ghosted you."

He sighed, turning to his wife. "Well, this'll be a slice."

Olivia gave him a funny look. "I think your case just caught flees."

Shaking his head, he refocused on the interview.

"So you can't find him?" the woman asked desperately.

"Well, we can contact the dating app," Rollins explained, "but right now, Jill, we need to get you to the hospital to do a tox screen.

"You can find out if I was drugged?" the woman inquired.

"The clock is ticking," Tamin explained, "but there's a good chance. They test for over three hundred drugs."

He turned back to Olivia as the women started making their way out of the interrogation room. "Hopefully that tox screen'll give us some answers."

"You did the right thing bringing her here," his wife said, giving him a quick kiss. "Just try not to take this home with you, okay?"

He gave her a lopsided smile. "I have a meeting to go to." He gave her a quick kiss back. "Love you."

"Love you too," she said. "Kick Buchanan's ass for me."

He chuckled. "If only."


	145. Chapter 145

While Rafael headed back to One Hogan Place, Fin and Rollins headed to the bar on Spring Street that Jill Bailey had gone to; Corner Lounge. The detectives managed to get street surveillance and a name; Luke Mitchell.

Naturally, Tamin and Carisi paid Mr. Mitchell a visit at his apartment on Beech Street. He appeared fairly 'normal' by all accounts and when asked told them that the sex was consensual. Unsurprisingly. After they press him a little bit, the man did ask the detectives to leave, however, claiming he needed to walk his dog.

After that, Olivia and Fin had a rather difficult conversation with Ms. Bailey about what was going on with her case. She was actually on her way out when Rafael was getting off the elevator, intending to get an update from the squad. He'd gotten a couple of texts, keeping him up to speed, but no real information.

He'd managed to make a fair amount of headway on his other files that afternoon, so although he could have gotten the update over the phone, he decided to pay the precinct a visit in person and get out of the office.

"Ms. Bailey," he said, coming to a stop beside her once he was out of the way of the elevator, briefcase in hand. "How are you doing?"

"Not great," the woman replied, looking rather resigned. "There's no proof I was drugged. And I still have this DWI to deal with. Insurance, my truck's impounded..."

"Well," he said without missing a beat, "I'll try and get that DWI put on ice. At least until we deal with the assault case."

The woman immediately looked relieved. "Thank you," she said softly.

He just nodded, not sure what else to say.

With the conversation over, she got onto the elevator and he made his way into the SVU squad room.

"Oh, Rafa." Olivia shot him a small smile as she started walking over to him.

"Where are we on Luke Mitchell?" he asked tersely.

"Oh, nice to see you too, love." His wife's tone made it clear she wasn't upset, but Rafael did feel a bit chastised. Not that he'd admit it aloud. She, thankfully, rapidly jumped into answering his question, gesturing for him to walk and talk. "Uh, no priors. We're looking for similar assaults. Look, this was well-planned." Rafael gave a little hum. "Alright, I think that... that Luke has done this before."

"He's a risk analyst in Midtown," Carisi explained. "Never married..."

"Boring ass facebook," Tamin quipped, earning herself a few eye rolls for that.

"He's a loser," Fin said. "No wonder he needed an app to get a date."

"Fin," Rollins deadpanned, "not everybody is as magnetic as you."

It took everything in Rafael not to laugh. Fin commenting on anybody having a dating life was just... yeah... Rafael didn't think the man had been on a date in years.

Fin's pleased smile at Rollins' quip just made it that much better.

"Now see what you've done?" Carisi said with a chuckle. "He's going to be even more unbearable with that ego boost."

Rafael groaned playfully. "You've really done it now, Rollins."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "You're all children."

"Moving on," Tamin said with a little snort. "It's the fastest way to meet people. But, do you know how many times I've seen someone's profile and then met him or her out at a bar and they are nothing like they say?"

"All you have is a username and a photo," Rafael pointed out. Although, he was admittedly pleased that he was apparently no longer the only LGBTQ person on the team. And she was bisexual, no less.

"Exactly," Olivia said. "You have no idea who you're actually meeting." She turned her attention back to Rafael. "Uh, which brings me back to Luke. I need a search warrant for his apartment."

"That's a great idea," he said. "Have you conjured up some evidence? Because the tox screen came back negative, did it not?"

"It did," Olivia admitted, "but -"

Rollins, who was typing away at her computer got their attention. "Hey, guys, I think I have something?"

"What is it?" he inquired.

"Similar M.O in ViCAP. Four months ago," the blonde detective explained, reading off her screen. "The vic, Rebecca Larson, reports that she was drugged and raped by a Luke that she met on TrueHeart."

Well, that changed things. "Who caught the case?" he inquired.

Rollins glanced back at the screen. Brooklyn SVU," she informed him. "It was closed, unfounded. Insufficient evidence."

Olivia tilted her head slightly. "So we open it back up."

He nodded and turned to Olivia. "Anything else I should know?"

She sighed before jumping into an explanation regarding the video footage they'd got from the bar. Unfortunately, from watching it, it didn't appear that Ms. Bailey was particularly intoxicated. They could also see Mr. Mitchell leave the woman at her truck, having nicely walked her out, and kissing her good night.

It was less than ideal but given her affect and straightforwardness... It wouldn't be an easy case but was still doable if he wanted to go out on a very shaky limb. Which he did have a tendency to do.

With that conversation over, he went to pour himself a coffee before he headed back to his office, leaving the detectives to try and set up a meeting with Ms. Larson and whatever else they were going to do.

"Counsellor," Tamin said, "walk you out?"

"Sure," he said, curiosity instantly piqued. He wasn't remotely sure where this conversation was going. "Something you need to tell me?"

"I apologize if I'm way off base," Tamin said, "but I saw a look cross your face when I admitted to being bisexual. I know you're Catholic... if you have an issue with..."

"Jesus," he said with a slight chuckle. "I am _so_ not homophobic, Kat. You do realize you're talking to the _Spanish Dandy_ of the Manhattan D.A's Office, yes?"

Her eyes went wide. "So, you are -"

He smirked. "You remember how during the Evangeline Miller case I told you that I was pretty far from a fundamentalist? Yeah."

She shook her head, amused. "Huh. I never would've guessed." She eyed him more seriously. "So what was that look about then?"

"Pleasant surprise," he quipped. "Good afternoon, Officer."

She nodded, smiling. "To you as well, Counsellor."

With that, he made his way back to One Hogan Place for the rest of the afternoon, hoping nothing came up to make him work late that night.


	146. Chapter 146

Wednesday morning, it seemed the entire Barba-Benson household was up a bit earlier than they actually needed to be, which gave them a bit more time to actually relax and wake up before he and Olivia had to run off to work.

Lucy was back from her trip as of the night before and would be watching Sofía while Noah went over to his friend Mikey's around ten o'clock that morning to play with him for most of the day. Michael's mother offered to pick Noah up, which made things a bit easier for Lucy as well.

"No puedo esperar hasta que vayamos a Lasker después del almuerzo," Noah said in between bites of his tortilla de plátano. (I can't wait until we go to Lasker after lunch.)

"Estoy envidioso. Se supone que hace más calor que ayer," he replied after taking a sip of his coffee and putting it back down on the table for a moment. "¿Ya está empacado tu trusa y toalla?" (I'm envious. It's supposed to be hotter out than yesterday. Are your bathing suit and towel already packed?)

"Sí," the boy replied happily. "En mi mochila azul." (Yes. In my blue backpack.)

"You grabbed your water bottle?" Olivia questioned. "Your sunscreen?"

"Yes, Mama," Noah replied with a slight note of exasperation in his voice at the round of twenty questions he was getting. "Papi gave it to me earlier.".

"Just making sure, Sweetie," Olivia said. "Even adults forget things."

"Okay," their son replied. "When are we going to Miami again?"

"The first week of August," Olivia explained. "When Uncle Sonny and Aunty Amanda are back from their honeymoon." The couple was getting married this coming weekend, both adults opting to keep their names because of their careers. Neither Murphy, who was still undercover for vice, or Pollack were involved in their children's lives, so Rollins was also planning to move for termination of parental rights.

Rollins and Carisi were also getting ready to move in a few weeks into a bigger place, them needing more room if they were going to keep Mason longterm. The stipend from Child Services no doubt helping them substantially; taking some of the edge off.

They would likely have to move eventually too, but the size of Sofía's room was more than big enough at the moment, so they weren't in any rush.

"Can we go sooner?" Noah inquired.

"No," Rafael said with a chuckle. "Uncle Sonny and Aunt Amanda deserve a few days off as well, you know."

Noah shrugged his shoulders. "That's fair."

Not much later, Lucy arrived, a little present in hand for Noah and Rafael left early for a meeting that he had before court that morning.

While he was at his various court hearings, Olivia and Rollins drove down to Greenpoint in Brooklyn to speak with Rebecca Larson, the suspected second victim that Rollins had found.

He'd just had lunch and started managing his files when Olivia called, letting him know that Ms. Larson had been consistent, told them about going to the bar Pinky Six, that she'd only had one beer and then felt woozy and had significant gaps in her memory. Despite that, she was able to recall feeling limp and unable to move, saying she'd been aware she was on her bed, naked, and that someone was on top of her, but she couldn't fully make sense of it. And that apparently after her tox screen came back clean, the investigating officers stopped returning her calls.

Olivia thought she remembered enough that she might be able to make an ID, so she asked Rafael to come down to the precinct.

Olivia opened the shutters to begin the lineup and Ms. Larson glanced from one man to the next for a moment. The woman bit her lip and settled her attention on Number One again. "Oh, his chin. I think that's him."

"Which number?" Rafael asked.

"Number One," Ms. Larson said. "Can he come closer and look up?" She glanced between Olivia and him. "That's um... that's how I remember him."

"Captain?" Rafael said pointedly.

Olivia nodded. "Yeah, we can do that." She pushed the speaker button. "So, can each of you please step up to the mirror. Chin up. Number One first." She turned the speaker off with an audible click.

At that point, Carisi and Tamin were walking Ms. Bailey in. She immediately started asking a series of questions, and Rafael immediately tensed hearing some of them. They were about five seconds away from accidentally having the entire case thrown out. He gestures for Carisi to get the woman out of there and Olivia, thankfully, kept Ms. Larson focused to the point that she hadn't even realized what was going on behind her a moment prior.

Letting out a breath he was holding, he turned his full attention back to Ms. Larson and the ID they were in the middle of, Ms. Larson now panicking. "No. That is him." She took a step back, trying to leave. "I need to -"

"Ms. Larson, are you okay?" he asked immediately.

"Sorry," the woman said frantically. "I need to -"

"Rebecca. Rebecca." The captain gently grabbed her shoulder, kneeling slightly as she got the woman to sit down. "You're going to be alright."

"I -" Ms. Larson said sniffling. "That is him. Number One, he raped me. He raped me."

"Okay," Rafael said calmly. "You IDed him. It's over."

"Hey," Olivia said, trying to comfort the woman, "look at me. Look at me. You're safe."

"No," the woman said. "I'm not safe. I just -"

"Ms. Larson," he said firmly, "you _are_ safe. He doesn't even know you're here, and if he did... there's not a single officer here who would let him lay a finger on you." The woman swallowed anxiously. "Breathe. Just breathe."

They waited a moment for Ms. Larson to calm down some, during which time Olivia told the officer inside the lineup to take Mr. Mitchell away. She then turned to Ms. Larson and began talking to her while Rafael went to speak with Ms. Bailey.

"Me. Bailey," Rafael said, taking a seat in front of her. "You can't pull what you almost did earlier. If we say we can't tell you something, there is a reason. You could've gotten the entire case thrown out due to coercion."

Carisi sighed. "She gets it. I explained."

"Do you?" Rafael said, eyeing the woman. "All your actions will be brought up during the trial. Blow-ups in court or in the precinct... anything to discredit you. You have to control your emotions a bit better. Making a scene only makes our jobs that much harder, understood?"

She nodded. "Understood."

"Good," he said, "because the justice system isn't fair. Never was. If they can discredit you, the defence will. Every single time."

She nodded. "And it's already hard enough to get a conviction on something like this."

"Unfortunately," he said. "So step back, and let us do our jobs. We will let you know everything when we can, but you have to let us do our jobs."

She nodded. "I get it, Mr. Barba. Honest. I just... seeing her."

He nodded. "I know, but until the trial is over. You two don't and have never met. You can talk after this mess is over."

With that conversation over, he got up and went to chat with the detectives about what their next move was. Fin and Rollins went to interrogate Mr. Mitchell while Carisi and Tamin started grabbing their keys so they could start the drive to Williamsburg, wanting to speak with the bartender at Pinky Six.

Once they were alone, he gave his wife a quick kiss. "I've got to go meet with a defence attorney, but I'll see you tonight."

She gave him a second kiss. "Love you. See you at home."

Arriving back at his office, he had a half an hour to prepare before his three o'clock meeting with Counsellor Clemens regarding a child abuse case and subsequent four o'clock meeting with Rita regarding a Romeo and Juliet case gone bad.

The parents on both sides seriously needed to calm the hell down and stop pressuring and stressing out their children, making things a thousand times worse.

Once the meeting was more or less over, the conversation turned away from work. "So, heading down to Miami for a few weeks pretty quickly here?"

"Yeah," he said. "Although, I'm not entirely sure that I'll be able to get my mother on the plane back here to the city."

His friend gave him a sideways look. "Oh?"

"I think she may be genuinely considering retiring down there," he explained, "and once she's there I think any hopes of persuasion are gone."

Rita gave a little snort. "Don't stress about it too much. I don't think she'd actually be able to leave you and the grandkids."

He rolled his eyes. "Rita, you severely underestimate the degree to which she despises winter. Especially as she's gotten older."

"She's not the only Barba who's a wimp when it comes to the cold," Rita quipped, earning herself a look of indignation from Rafael.

"We're Cuban," he said with a snort. "We like the warm sun. We're not made for living in places where _está chiflando el mono."_

She eyed him. "I'm not even going to pretend that I understood that."

He chuckled. "Where it's freezing cold."

Rita rolled her eyes. "We're in New York. Not Alaska."

He stuck his tongue out, putting his feet on the desk. "Oh, hush. Anyway, with her now being retired, I think she may just make the move. She'd be closer to my aunt and everyone that way as well."

"Just cross that bridge when you come to it," she said softly.

He gave her a small, slightly forced, smile, waving the comment off. "It's fine, really. How are things with your parents?"

She gave a little snort. "They're incorrigible. As always. But, what can you do?"

"Fair enough."

She squeezed his shoulder. "I've got to go, but text me and we'll get together for coffee at some point."

He nodded. "Will do."

She shot him another warm smile as she closed the door behind her, leaving Rafael alone with his files again.


	147. Chapter 147

They were at a food cart near the courthouse, and Rafael just ordered Olivia, Tamin, and himself a coffee to go while they talked shop. Olivia had gone to the shooting range with Rollins the evening prior, making it a little hard to fill Rafael in, even without the fact that they tried not to discuss work at home.

"So," he prodded, "Luke Mitchell had the pleasure of spending the night in holding?"

"Yeah," Rollins said with a slight nod of the head.

"Good," he said, passing the women their coffees.

He turned around to quickly grab his own from the vendor while Olivia filled him in. "And we think that he has an accomplice."

"Luke took his dates to two different bars in two different boroughs," Tamin explained. "Ash Gordon, a freelance bartender... he was at both bars the night of the assaults. A hell of a coincidence."

"Jill and Rebecca didn't drink a lot," the captain said pointedly. "And yet they both ended up with significant memory gaps."

He took a sip of his coffee. "We didn't find any substances at Mitchell's place. Are you thinking that Gordon did the actual drugging?"

"Maybe," she said with a slight shrug. "Now, he has no complaints, no arrests, no record." She held her index finger up. "But -"

"This guy was a chemistry major in college," Tamin chimed in. "He got kicked out though before he could finish the degree."

Rafael raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Tamin gave him a look. "Get this... It was for conducting unauthorized recreational drug trials in the school's lab."

Now _that_ got Rafael's attention. "Res ipsa loquitur." He glanced between both women. "What's Gordon get out of this?"

"We're not sure," Tamin admitted, "but -"

"Do we have anything connecting this guy besides circumstance?" he inquired.

"We're working on that," Olivia admitted.

"So no motive, no evidence," he said. "If you want a subpoena, I'm going to need more than your cop instincts."

Olivia eyed him. "Rafa -"

He sighed. "I'll try and push it through. After Mitchell's arraignment. But I'm likely not going to get it. I'm a prosecutor, not a miracle worker."

Olivia had to concede the point. "Thank you."

He gave her a quick kiss. "I've got to go to arraignment, but text me if you can stop for a quick lunch today."

She smiled. "Will do. Love you."

He smiled back. "Love you too, Cariño."

With that, they went their separate ways, Rafael having to get to court before he royally pissed off a judge by making him wait.

"Two counts of rape in the second," Judge Andrews said. "How do you plead?"

Counsellor Andrews' answer was as expected. "Not guilty, Your Honour."

"The people on bail?" the arraignment judge asked.

Rafael made eye contact with the judge. "Fifty-thousand, Your Honour."

"ROR," the defence attorney said. "Mr. Mitchell has a steady job, never been in trouble with the law... This is a case of _Morning After Regret_."

"Two cases, Your Honour," Rafael countered. "That we know of. He's a serial predator who incapacitates his victims."

"Both the women my client has allegedly drugged came back with clean tox screens," the defence attorney pointed out.

"Those tests have limitations," Rafael countered. "They were clearly drugged."

"Save it for the trial, counsellors." The arraignment judge glanced between both of them. "Bail is set at thirty-thousand."

It was more or less what Rafael had expected, but he wasn't exactly thrilled. Shooting the defence attorney a look, he grabbed his file and started to make his way out of the courtroom. He was surprised by who was waiting for him by the door. He hadn't noticed her sitting in the gallery. "Ms. Bailey," he said. "You didn't have to come."

"I'm still trying to piece together what happened that night," the woman explained. "I was hoping that seeing him, hearing his voice, would help."

"I get it," he said, gesturing for her to walk and talk. "These things take time, but you _will_ get through this."

"I just want to know what the hell he did to me," she said. "What he gave me. What did you find in his apartment?"

He sighed. "The detectives found dog food and pizza boxes. We're beginning to think that Mr. Mitchell had an accomplice."

She went wide-eyed. "The bartender?" Now it was Rafael's turn to look shocked. "They seemed to know each other," she offered in way of explanation.

The elevator dinged and he led her inside. "What gave you that impression?"

"They were laughing together when I walked in," she explained. "And wait... They knew each other's names."

"You're absolutely sure about this?" he questioned.

She nodded without any hesitation.

He smirked, extremely happy with the new development. "Ms. Bailey, I do believe you just gave me probable cause."

He immediately took his phone out of his pocket, and the second that Rafael got out of the elevator he got on the phone with Olivia and Judge Donnelly.

Rafael had quickly gotten a search warrant for Ash Gordon's apartment, and the sound of Tamin and Carisi being sent by Olivia to the man's apartment was music to his ears.

Leaving the situation in his wife's capable hands, Rafael grabbed a coffee for both him and Carmen before heading back to his office to sit down to manage the rather large stack of files that were waiting for him.

He had to deal with more than a few work calls and emails but was able to largely focus on his own caseload and get a fair amount of work done.

He ended up grabbing lunch at Forlini's with Olivia, and had only been back at the office for maybe an hour when Carmen came in and turned his TV on. "What's up?"

"Your wife," she said with a small smile.

Finding the channel she wanted he saw one Captain Olivia Benson on CNN giving a press conference in full uniform.

_"SVU has arrested Luke Mitchell," the captain said, "charged with raping two women. We believe that he has an accomplice, and we believe that there are other women who have not yet reported their assaults."_

"What's she doing?" Carmen asked.

He smiled. "We can't find the victims, so she's having them find us."

_"Mr. Mitchell connected with both victims on a dating app called TrueHeart," the captain continued. "He met JaneDoe One at a bar in Lower Manhattan and JaneDoe Two in a bar in Williamsburg. Now, both of these victims experienced confusion, disorientation, and memory loss, and we believe that these women, and possibly others, were drugged and raped." She paused for a moment to let that sink in. "Your decision to go on a date and consume alcohol with someone does not give them permission to rape you."_

"Told you," Rafael said, a clear note of pride in his voice.

_"Doing so is a crime," the captain went on, "that we at SVU and the D.A's Office are taking very seriously. If you, or anyone you know, may have been victimized in a similar manner, we urge you to contact Manhattan SVU. Thank you."_

As the press conference came to an end, Carmen turned his TV off. "Do you think that they'll get any calls?" she inquired.

"I think they will," he said. "Once someone comes forward, the floodgates open. The victims realize they're not alone."

His assistant nodded. "Good. The guy needs to rot in a jail cell."

He gave a little snort. "You'll get no argument from me."

Both Carmen and him went back to work, his assistant coming in an hour later to tell him that she was going home for the night.

He stayed for another half-hour, wrapping things up, and then headed home to his kids, unsurprised by the text he got from Olivia saying she would be working late, and that a woman had already come forward saying she was assaulted by Luke Mitchell.

"¡Papi!" Noah said happily, running to give him a hug when he walked through the door, the lego the boy had been playing with momentarily forgotten.

"¡Hola, muchacho!" he said, ruffling the boy's hair playfully once the boy stepped back from the hug. "¿Cómo estuvo tu día? ¿Te divertiste en la piscina?" (Hey, Kiddo! How was your day? Did you have fun at the pool?)

"¡Sí, un montón!" the boy said happily. (Yes, loads!)

He chuckled, switched to English for Lucy's sake as she just walked in with a squirmy Sofía in her arms. "I can see that. You got some colour."

Noah stuck his tongue out. "Moisturize enough and it'll be a tan."

"Good luck with that," he said with an eye roll. He turned his attention to Lucy, holding his arms out to take his daughter. "How was your day?"

"It was good," Lucy said with a smile. "We went to the park with the kid of a really good friend of mine, so they got to parallel play in a sandbox. We did a few other things, like playing with stickers. She loves the water table you nought her, so we played with that."

"She wasn't overly cranky?" They were trying to drop the morning nap so that Sofía only had one nap at noon instead of a morning and afternoon nap.

"She wasn't too bad," she said with a soft chuckle, "but I did take her out for a walk this morning to keep her awake. By the time she'd had lunch and changed, she'd been more than ready to go to bed."

He nodded. "I'm not surprised. It'll probably be like that for a while."

"Why?" Noah questioned.

"She's not used to it, Mijo," he explained. "She's sleeping less, so she's very tired."

The boy nodded. "Oh. Okay."

"¡Papá!" came Sofía's singsong voice. "Ba-ba."

"¿Quieres bajar, Mijita?" he asked the little girl, quickly catching what it was that she was trying to say. (Do you want down, Sweetie?)

She nodded her head in the affirmative and then started to squirm even more than she had been. "Ba-ba."

He chuckled, putting the squirmy girl on the ground, giving her a small smile as he did so. "Ve a jugar, princesa." (Go play, princess.)

He had to chuckle when she tried to run and fell. Her only reaction was to throw her arms up, say, "Uh-oh," and get up again. It didn't seem to particularly faze her, and she just continued on.

He crinkled his nose happily as he watched Sofía make her way to the toy she wanted to the play with, "That little lady, I swear."

"She definitely has quite the personality already," Lucy agreed fondly.

"It's more fun now that I can really play with Sof," Noah said happily, glancing at the aforementioned little girl. "I like getting to help teach her things."

They talked for a while and then Lucy headed home. Noah returned to playing with his lego while Rafael put Sofía in her highchair in the kitchen, easy shape sorter puzzle on the tray to help keep her somewhat entertained so that Rafael could start on dinner.

She seemed to like throwing them on the floor more than anything else at the moment, though, but Rafael wasn't going to have her just randomly running around either and didn't want to make Noah watch her.

His son popped into the kitchen for a second while Rafael was rummaging through the fridge for the chicken that he'd marinated before work. "¿Puedo comer un poco de guayaba con queso crema?" (Can I have some guava with cream cheese?)

"Puedes comer un poco después de cenar para el postre, Mijo," he replied as he took the rice and several potatoes out of the cupboard he was currently rummaging through. (You can have some after dinner for dessert, Mijo.)

"Okay, Papi," Noah said, scurrying off to play in the living room once more.

He shook his head slightly at the boy's rushed exit as he got to work on the pollo asado en cazuela with rice and black beans that he'd decided to make for dinner. His life certainly was never boring.


	148. Chapter 148

Rafael wasn't overly surprised when he walked into a gong-show the following day.

He had a couple of hearings that morning and then was asked to go down to the precinct regarding the case. As it turned out, more than several women had come forward that morning and the evening prior, calling them or simply showing up at the precinct to share their stories. At least one of the women had reported Mitchell to TrueHeart no less than five times, but the company never acted on the reports.

Olivia and Rollins got called to a home to meet with a woman who reported that her daughter Piper had also been raped by Luke Mitchell. Piper explained that she got home and something felt wrong. She called her mother and they went to the ER and they started a rape kit. About ten minutes into the kit her ears started ringing and then she went numb. They were told by the doctors that drugs could have caused this and her mother explained that they didn't go to the police because she didn't remember anything. The assault had happened three months ago and Piper told them she felt her life had ended that night.

That was why Rafael was now at the precinct with Olivia along with Luke Mitchell and his ever-entertaining defence attorney.

"My client has already been arraigned," Counsellor Andrews said. "You've publically denounced him, and now you're re-arresting him? This is a vendetta."

"It's not a vendetta, Counsellor," Rafael said with an eye roll. "My office is bringing additional charges against your client. You see, two more women have come forward and IDed your client as their rapist."

Olivia placed two photos of the aforementioned women in front of Counsellor Andrews and her asinine client. "Both rapes had an identical MO to your client." Olivia paused for a second. "And one woman who didn't come forward, but her mother did." She placed a photo of the third new victim down. "Piper - who had a stroke that night is paralyzed and brain-damaged."

Rafael quickly wracked his brain for what to say. Mitchell was definitely a loser and seemed easily scared. He had no backbone... if they could scare him, he might decide to cooperate. He had to be careful though. "If Ms. Hill dies, you're looking at felony murder, Mr. Mitchell. That's life in prison."

"No," Mitchell said nervously, "that is crazy. She was fine when I left her." The man started playing with his hands. "I put her... now, I put her in a taxi, and she was walking. She was talking."

"Well," Olivia said, slight disgust entering her voice, "all of your victims were because that's how _drug_-facilitated _rape_ works."

"I don't know anything about drugs," Mitchell said, clearly on edge.

"Well, maybe not," Olivia agreed, grabbing another photo and placing it in front of Mitchell. "But, your friend Ash _does_."

The man genuinely looked scared and perilously close to crying, but Rafael couldn't find any sympathy for the man. "Now, we know that the two of you have been in contact since your initial arrest. Want to tell us what he told you?"

"Hold on," defence counsel said to Mitchell, gesturing as she did so. She then turned to them. "First off, my client had absolutely no knowledge of this woman's condition or what she may have ingested."

"Well, Counsellor," Rafael said, "what _does_ your client know?"

He eyed Mitchel as he spoke and both Mitchell and Andrews look at each other. After a moment, Mitchell spoke. "Um, before a date I would call Ash and I would let him know that I was coming in."

"And he would drug their drinks?" Olivia prodded.

Mitchell shook his head. "I guess."

"_I guess_," Rafael sneered. "That's really not good enough in my book."

"I swear," Mitchell said desperately. "All he said to me was that the girls would be awake, but that they would be, um, what was the word he used? He said... Oh, he said they would be compliant."

"So what was in it for him?" Olivia asked.

"This guy is a mad scientist," Mitchell told them, glancing between Rafael and Olivia. "These dates... He wants videos of them. He calls them his clinical trials."

Rafael tilted his head slightly. "Where are your copies of the videos?"

Mitchell laughed a bit hysterically at that. "I don't keep them. That would be a violation of the girls' privacy."

Rafael gave the man a dirty look. "Okay." _He's a moron. Genuinely a fucking moron. How can someone really be that damn stupid?_

"Okay," Olivia said with an audible sigh. She then tapped Piper's photo. "So, the night you were on a date with Piper. Did Ash say anything about her cocktail?"

"We talked about how my last date before Piper," Mitchell said seemingly completely unconcerned about what he was saying, "how it wore off too soon."

"Rebecca?" Olivia confirmed. "Because she stopped being compliant?"

"Kind of," Mitchell said. "And... and he said that probably shouldn't happen again, so he must've cooked something up. I mean -" the man threw his hands up in the air as he spoke. "- I have no idea."

"Guess what?" Olivia said with clear disdain in her voice, "You're going to find out."

With the interrogation clearly at an end, Rafael headed back to One Hogan Place to manage his files, leaving the little undercover operation in Olivia's more than capable hands. He just hoped that the moron Mitchell didn't mess the entire thing up.

He managed his files for a little over an hour before he checked the time, closed the file he was working on, and went to Forlini's to grab some lunch.

Lunch was mostly him replying to a myriad of work emails in between bites of food, but that was nothing new, so it didn't particularly bother him. Within an hour he was back in his office, fresh coffee in one hand and a law book in the other as he started looking up a piece of information he wanted to confirm.

He has told Carmen to reschedule his three o'clock when he'd left for lunch, so he just sat and managed his files until shortly after four o'clock when he got a call from Olivia and made his way back down to the precinct. The squad managed to get Ash Gordon on audio admitting to drugging the drinks.

_"My work is artisanal," the voice on the recording said. "I tailor each batch."_

Rafael smirked. "In my world, that's called an admission."

"Or bragging," Counselor Hernandez said. "You have no evidence."

Olivia eyed the defence attorney. "Actually, we do."

Rafael leaned forwards slightly and gave defence counsel a hard look. "You see, aside from Mr. Mitchell's testimony, we have five women who will ID your client as the bartender the night that they were drugged. One of whom is paralyzed."

"My client has nothing to do with that," Hernandez said.

"The tox screen," Rafael said, opening a Manilla folder, "which was the only one taken on the night of her assault found traces of Percocet. The same drug that we found in Mr. Gordon's medicine cabinet."

"I have a prescription," Gordon said.

"Which proves," Olivia said, "that they're _your_ drugs." She started pacing, not taking her eye off Gordon. "And when a jury sees Piper Hill on the stand, in her wheelchair, slurring her words -" She leaned across the table. "- unable to use her right side..."

"That's tough," the sorry excuse for a man said, cutting the captain off, "but I never laid a hand on her or any of them. I'm just levelling the playing field."

"Please," Rafael said sarcastically, "enlighten me as to how you figure your 'levelling the playing field.'"

"You ever work in a bar, Mr. Barba?" Gordon inquired. "I see these guys in their sweaty desperation, getting rolled by women night after night. You're a guy. You know how it is with these women."

"Dating's not easy," he said neutrally, "I'll give you that."

"Right," Gordon said, "so, I told Luke... if you're going to pick up the cheque, make sure you're getting something for it."

Rafael nodded curtly. "And you made sure that he did."

"And the same for your other clients," Olivia commented.

"They're not clients," Gordon said pointedly. "They don't pay me. They're just guys trying to get over." He didn't take his eyes off Olivia at all while he spoke. "Just like them, you need me more than I need you. I didn't rape these women if that's what you wanna call it, but I know who did."

Olivia eyed Gordon. "And you have the encrypted video files to prove it."

Rafael wanted to wipe the smirk of Gordon's smug face, but the man was right. He had the names of multiple rapists and the only access to the proof they'd need to make any case against these men.

Swallowing the bile in his throat, he cut a deal with Gordon for the videos of the assaults and the names of the men involved. The man would only do two years, but lose the battle, win the war. With any luck, the actual men physically raping these women would end up doing much closer to ten.

He went back to his office trying to get more work done before he got swarmed with work from this mess, but it was only a few hours before he got a call from Olivia telling him to set up an arraignment in the morning for the four men that they'd just brought in from Gordon's files.

Despite the rather crappy day, he had to smile when he learned that Piper Hill wanted to speak at sentencing, telling them that they thought she was just this thing to experiment on. That she wanted them to know she was human. That she mattered.

The courage and strength of many of the survivors he'd met over the years never ceased to amaze him. He'd gone through a lot growing up, but in some ways what some of these women had gone through seemed so much worse than what he had.

He booked the arraignment hearings and finished up a few other things before going home, but he was more than relieved when he was able to walk out of the office and go home for the day.


	149. Chapter 149

When Saturday dawned, it was finally time to throw on dress clothes and make the drive out to The Picnic House in Prospect Park for the Rollins-Carisi wedding. Both Rafael and Noah were in suits, Olivia was in one of her favourite dresses, and Sofía was in an adorable pink dress.

It was a lovely ceremony. Noah loved being the ring bearer, and Jesse was thrilled with getting to be the bell ringer at the wedding. Carisi's youngest niece, Gabriella, definitely had a personality on her and made for a very interesting flower girl.

Nick Amaro had come down for the wedding as well. Tamin, Melinda, Cragen, and Munch were also there, so everyone was there to support Rollins as Fin walked her down the aisle, seeming absurdly proud of his longtime friend turned surrogate sister.

The reception was equally lovely. It was cool to see some of the Italian traditions that Sonny had managed to incorporate. The couple had opted not to have a completely traditional Catholic wedding in the church, most likely for Rollins' comfort, but a lot of elements were still there. Rafael was glad that Carisi managed to get granted the dispensation because it had been a major pain for Rafael when he'd requested it for his own wedding. Extremely worth it, though.

Rollins was close to tears when, during the ceremony, Sonny got down to Jesse's level, holding Billie, and made a promise to the girls as well. Everyone was touched when the man ended it telling his now stepdaughter, "Ti voglio bene, principessa."

"Ti voglio bene anch'io," Jesse replied in the Italian that she'd been learning since her mother and new stepfather's relationship became serious. Jesse hugged her stepdad and quietly said something that made both the bride and groom laugh at the little girl's antics, Carisi giving the little girl another quick hug.

"Sonny," Amanda said, "you're not _supposed to_ try and make me cry."

Carisi gave a little chuckle, quipped back, and then the ceremony concluded with a final prayer from the priest and a nuptial blessing asking for strength and protection for the couple. They'd opted not to have Mass, just as Rafael had, but kept a lot of the other traditional aspects. "Go in peace with Christ."

As the ceremony was brought to a close, everyone made their way over to the area where the wedding reception was being held.

The reception afterwards was lovely as well. There was Italian food, dancing, and the little speech that Gina and Teresa gave together was hilarious. Bella teased her brother some in her speech, but it was definitely heartwarming. Gina and Teresa's was still very touching, but they definitely kept the jokes coming. Carisi's reaction was great, and Rollins just laughed and joined in with a retort.

The family was definitely some sort of crazy, but you could feel the love coming off everyone in waves. They pocked fun, but they were all very close with one another and threw playful banter around easily.

Eventually, the last song was called and the bride and groom left for two days to themselves, the kids staying with Carisi's parents in Staten Island while they were gone on their honeymoon. Thankfully, Olivia was able to convince 1PP to bring a backup in while they were gone. Sergeant Khaldun of the Transit Bureau was joining them. They'd worked with the man several times, and he'd actually been the man to work the undercover operation that led to Alistair Woodford's arrest.

Sunday was a lot calmer. They woke up, went about their morning routine, headed to Mass, and then they went to spend the day at Rafael's mother's place.

They were sitting around having lunch and chatting. His mother made fricasé de pollo, white rice, maduros, yucca con mojo and an avocado salad.

Noah put his fork down on the table and momentarily glanced up from his plate. "Abuelita, ¿por qué tienes esos elefantes junto a la puerta?" (Abuelita, why do you have those elephants by the door?)

Rafael's lips quirked upwards with amusement. His mother, and most of his relatives, did tend to have a lot of knickknacks all over the place. This was one of them. His mother had a medium-sized elephant figurine and two smaller ones posed by the door with their rear ends toward the door.

His mother raised an eyebrow at that but Rafael knew she loved any chance she had to teach something. "Es para la buena suerte, chico." (It's for good luck, kiddo)

"Ah," Noah said. "It's one of those soustitions?"

"Superstitions," Rafael gently corrected. "And yes, it is."

"Cool," his son commented, shoving a forkful of rice into his mouth.

His mother chuckled. "Out of the mouths of babes."

"Indeed," Olivia said, clearly amused.

They continued to chat over lunch and then Rafael quickly helped his mother with the dishes while Olivia put Sofía down for a nap. Everyone then sat down in the living room for coffee, one of his mother's favourite songs playing softly in the background.

His mother was sharing a funny story from her childhood when she got up and left the room. When she returned a few minutes later, she had a book in her hand.

"Había Una Vez," he said with an instant smile, he had more than a couple of memories of his grandmother reading him that specific book when he was rather little; the story of Ratóncito Pérez y la Cucarachita Martina, in particular.

His mother nodded. "I found this when I was going through some of mamá's things a few weeks ago," his mother explained. "It's not in the best condition, but it's still perfectly readable. I have many memories of reading this my little rocking chair in mis abuelos' house back in Cuba." She passed it to Noah who looked thrilled with the gift. "There are many wonderful stories in it."

"That's awesome," Olivia said, adjusting her hold on Sofía. "Isn't it, Noah?"

The boy put the book down beside him for a moment and got up to give his grandmother a hug. "Muchas gracias." (Thank you.)

"De nada," his mother said, giving Noah a warm smile. (You're welcome.)

"You have to take good care of it, though," he told Noah gently. "We don't want it to fall apart. Alright, Mijo?"

"I will," Noah said, nodding rather enthusiastically.

They sat around chatting a while longer before a start playing, and his mother grabbed Noah's hand, pulling the boy into a dance.

Watching Noah get a little dance lesson was endearing, but eventually, his mother turned his focus to Rafael. "Come, Mijo. Let's show him how it's done."

He rolled his eyes but knew he wasn't getting out of it. "Fine."

He didn't miss the fact that Olivia definitely had her phone out to record it as he started dancing with his mother; not for the first time by any stretch of the imagination. She'd been the one to teach him to dance, after all. Well, her and his grandmother.

Eventually, the lesson became less serious and everyone was just having fun and goofing around to the music.

Sofía slept straight through her nap time, but they definitely heard her once she was awake, cooing away. It was honestly rather cute.

Olivia brought her down, and Rafael played with her while they sat around chatting, still listening to music and discussing some funny stories from over the years. They prattled on until his mother went to start on dinner, and Noah started messing with the dominos set his mother had.

Eventually, they sat down for arroz con pollo, and then after cleaning up, they all sat down to play dominos, still prattling on about whatever until it was time for them to say goodbye and drive back into Manhattan.

All in all, it was a good end to the weekend.


	150. Chapter 150

The series of arraignments for the Ash Gordon mess Rafael had on Monday morning went about as well as they could've. That was only the start of it, though, as, naturally, all the men from the videos were denying any and all culpability.

At least they had Luke Mitchell and Ash Gordon locked down. That would only help when the other cases inevitably went to trial.

With court finally done for the day, blessedly, he headed out of the courthouse to grab a coffee and something small to eat before starting to make his way back to his office to get some research and some of his paperwork done.

He'd just walked past Carmen's desk, never even making it to his office, however, when he got a call from Olivia saying he was needed down at the station.

He knew the building by heart, so it didn't take long for him to get there, walk through the 1-6, and find himself in the SVU squad room.

He waltzed over to the Fin's desk where everyone was chatting, presumably about the case he'd been called down to the precinct for.

"Counsellor," came the immediate greeting.

Rafael dipped his head slightly in acknowledgment. "Sergeant Khaldun. Detectives." He eyed the aforementioned police officers. "So, where's the fire?"

"Interrogation One," Olivia said with a snort. "Mr. Isaiah Jefferson, 34. Picked up last night by both Fin and Khaldun here."

"We arrested him for the rape of an eleven-year-old girl," Khaldun explained.

"And it wasn't the first time," Fin said with clear disgust. "The girl said she's done this at least three times."

"The girl's aunt walked in on Jefferson as he was raping the girl," Khaldun continued. "He was a family friend. Now, the aunt's our only other witness. She tried to call 911, but Jefferson pulled the phone from her hand."

Rafael tilted his head slightly at that.

"When the aunt tripped and fell to the floor," Fin added, "Jefferson grabbed her by the foot and started dragging her on the floor."

"Lovely," Rafael scoffed.

"My words exactly," Tamin chimed in.

"It gets better," Khaldun said with a touch of sarcasm. "While this was going on, the young girl, Emily Clarke, was trying to help her aunt. Miss Clarke was taken to a local hospital in stable condition. Now, Jefferson did escape after the assault but he later surrendered himself and we collared him at a cheap hotel in Brooklyn."

He nodded curtly, not taking his eyes off the two sergeants. "What exactly do we know about Mr. Jefferson?"

"He has a lengthy rap sheet dating to 1991," Fin said. "Robbery, menacing, harassment, assault, that kind of thing. He was most recently picked up after he allegedly beat his ex-girlfriend last year and violated an order of protection."

"Was he still on probation when you arrested him?" he inquired.

"Yes. Until 2022," Khaldun confirmed.

"Okay," he said, going over the information in his brain. His gaze landed on Olivia. "And you guys vetted the Clarkes?"

"Of course," Olivia said.

"Good," he said. "When you guys talked to Jefferson, did you get anything from him?"

"Just the usual shit," Fin said.

They talked some more about Jefferson, discussed the Clarkes, went into some more aspects specific to the relationship between the defendant and victim before Rafael bid the squad farewell and made his way out of the precinct.

It was still early enough in the day that Rafael managed to get an arraignment hearing for Isaiah Jefferson before court closed for the day.

"Rape in the first, sexual abuse in the first, and acting in a manner injurious to a child," Judge Copeland listed off. She then eyed Jefferson's legal aid attorney. "Does the defendant have a plea?"

"Not guilty, Your Honour," Counsellor Brown said. "My client never put a hand on the girl. The family of the alleged victim is doing this because of a fight they had. he wants to clear his name. We also request supervised release. My client surrendered himself and he's never missed a court date."

The judge nodded, glancing at Rafael. "The people on bail?"

"The defendant had already attempted to flee once, Your Honour," Rafael said. "He's a flight risk. As such, the people request remand."

"My client isn't a flight risk, Your Honour," the legal aid attorney said. "He doesn't have the means to do so. As I mentioned earlier, he surrendered himself."

"Only after he had already fled the borough," Rafael retorted. "Your Honour, this argument's preposterous on its face. The defendant has no family ties, and certainly had enough resources to put himself up in the hotel he was arrested at before supposedly coming to his senses."

"A hotel _in the city,_" defence counsel pointed out.

"He had limited time," Rafael countered without missing a beat. "And, he not only has an extensive record but has violated a judge's orders as well."

"This is a vendetta," defence counsel said. "Your Honour-"

"A vendetta?" Rafael sneered. He pulled out a piece of paper and read it. _"You would never know she's eleven-years-old by the things she knows."_ He turned to the legal aid attorney. "Your client's own words to one of the arresting officers, Counsellor."

The judge shook her head. "I have to largely agree with Mr. Barba." She eyed the defendant. "Because of his record and the allegation he violated a judge's order, there are no reasonable accommodations or factors that would assure his return to court," the judge said. "Bail is set at $250,000, cash or bond."

Rafael wasn't thrilled with that but was reasonably content given he doubted the defendant was getting his hands on the money that the man needed to post his bail anytime soon. At the very least, it bought them time.

After the arraignment, he headed back to his office for an hour to wrap up some things for work before finally heading home.

They had an easy dinner that evening, which Noah enthusiastically helped him make, and Olivia had texted him saying that she had gotten called in for a close job which meant she'd likely be home late.

It was still light out, so Rafael decided to take the kids out for a walk around central park. He and Noah could chat, and it would be easy enough for Sofía to pass out in her stroller when she got tired.

They ended up walking Sixth Avenue and Rafael prattled on about some of the monuments that they saw while they were walking.

They'd stopped in front of the massive José Martí statue during the walk and Noah looked at him curiously as he finished a comment about the man that was being depicted. "Papi, ¿por qué José Martí te cae muy bien? ¿Es porque eres cubano?" (Papi, why do you like José Martí so much? Is it because you are Cuban?)

"Bueno," he said thoughtfully, wracking his brain for how to best explain it, "además de ser considerado uno de los grandes intelectuales latinoamericanos de principios de siglo, es considerado un héroe por su parte en la liberación de Cuba del control de España. Ayudó e inspiró a las personas. ¿Tiene sentido?" (Well, besides being considered one of the great turn-of-the-century Latin American intellectuals, he is considered a hero because of his part in the liberation of Cuba from Spain's control. He helped and inspired people. Does that make sense?)

His son nodded. "Anjá." Noah looked up at him thoughtfully, a big grin on his face. "Un poco como tú y mamá." (Uh-huh. Kind of like you and mom.)

A little surprised by Noah's comment, but more than a little touched by the sentiment, even if he felt it ill fitted in his case, he smiled softly down at his son. He tousled the boy's hair gently. "Te quiero, Mijo." (I love you, Mijo.)

"Yo también te quiero, Papi," Noah replied. (I love you too, Papi.)

They continued to walk around for a bit, Sofía passed out, before they stopped at a café for a little treat and finally headed home.

Noah was in bed and Rafael was nursing a drink on the couch, watching some TV, when Olivia finally walked in from work. He'd brought out his old guitar earlier, and messed around with it some, before putting it away once more. He smiled, getting up when he heard her walk through the front door. "You're home." Reaching her, he pulled his wife in for a kiss.

When they parted, Olivia smiled back at him. "Missed me, crazy husband of mine?"

He grinned right back. "Always, mi vida."


	151. Chapter 151

The rest of the workweek was hectic. Between all of Rafael's active cases, and getting things ready for his absence - dealing with some last-minute scheduling conflicts and transferring several of his cases that court appearances couldn't be rescheduled over to Casey Novak - he pulled more than a couple of consecutive late nights.

Thankfully, Novak had agreed to take on a full case-load for the time being. She was experienced and one of the few people that could give him a run for his money when it came to work. He trusted her not to screw his cases up, which couldn't necessarily be said about all of the other more senior ADAs.

He managed to get one of the trials connected to the Luke Mitchell mess moved up, so spent all of Wednesday in court and then had a waiting game for that verdict most of Thursday while he twiddled his thumbs in his office going between watching his phone like a hawk and trying to make some progress on his other files.

It was already three o'clock when he finally got called in for the verdict.

"You may be seated," Judge Pepitone said. "It is my understanding that the jury has reached a verdict. Is that correct?"

"Yes, Your Honour," the jury foreman said, the bailiff taking the verdict forms from the man and giving them to the judge.

The judge nodded. "What say you?"

"On the charge of rape in the first degree," the jury foreman said, "we find the defendant, Matthew Gray, guilty."

Rafael smirked when he heard that and was pleased that the jury polling showed that only one jury had any sort of doubt about the situation. That was one mess dealt with, but he went back to his office to deal with more work. He was almost caught up, but he still had a lot of work to do.

Friday didn't go much easier and ended up actually been even more insane, by every stretch of the imagination.

The captain eyed Tamin. "You made Ivy spend the night here?"

"By the time we got back," the officer explained, "it was two o'clock in the morning."

"Where's her mother?" Olivia said, clearly frustrated.

"Apparently, she had a late night too," Tamin said with a sigh.

She was out drinking and partying most likely, in Rafael's opinion. Her mother had instantly reporter the suspected runaway, however, so she did care for her daughter in her own weird, twisted, way.

"And what do we have on Ivy?" Rafael inquired. Ivy Bucci had run away, and Tamin had picked the girl up for 'possession' the night prior when the girl wouldn't cooperate.

"Possession if we want it," Tamin explained, "but the drugs weren't actually on her."

"Is she showing any remorse?" Olivia inquired.

Tamin sighed. "Not even slightly."

Rafael shook his head. "She's going to go down a road she's not going to be able to come back from... and with a mother like hers... with her father in prison."

Olivia eyed him and Tamin. "She needs tough love," the captain said. She turned to Rafael more firmly now. "You have a daughter. This'll be good practice."

He gestured to himself. "You want me..."

"She's a child sexual abuse victim acting out," Olivia said. "We've all known the family for years. She's not a bad kid. She needs help."

"Oh, I agree," he said, "but -"

Rafael didn't get to finish his sentence, however, as Mrs. Bucci finally decided to grace them with her presence. "Captain Benson, where's my baby?"

"Officer Tamin and the counsellor will help you," Olivia said, quickly walking into her office and closing the door.

Rafael sighed. "Let's go."

"This way," Tamin said, pointing to the direction. "Over here."

Rafael wracked his brain the entire walk into the interrogation room for how to handle the very messed up situation.

"I've been worried sick," Mrs. Bucci said.

"I'm sorry, Mom." The girl didn't look apologetic, at all.

"You're not going to charge her," Mrs. Bucci asked, "are you?"

"We hope it doesn't have to get that far," Rafael said, shaking his head slightly, "but Ivy's behaviour has got to change."

"Well, she's like me," Mrs. Bucci said. "Smart." She briefly glanced at her daughter and then back to him. "She pushes things, but she knows when to stop."

"Is that right, Ivy?" he prodded.

"I've learned my lesson," the girl said coolly.

"See, Counsellor!" the girl's mother said. "No more partying. You promise me, Ivy?"

"I do," the girl said, "I... I swear."

He nodded. "For your sake, I hope that's the truth. We'll void your arrest for now."

The mother nodded. "Thank you." He leaned forward. "Ivy... if you act out again, I'll have you picked up. You're better than this."

"Okay, let's get you home," the woman said. "Ivy, can you thank, Mr. Barba?"

"Thank you," the girl said immediately, almost seeming sincere as she spoke. "I'm going to turn this around."

Rafael didn't buy it, but let the girl go, finished what he needed to at the precinct, and went back to his office.

He worked later than usual, again, but was heading home when he got a call from an officer down at the eleventh precinct. He sighed, got in the car, and got there as fast as he could. _She couldn't even go one day without partying. _

"We picked her up doing coke with a thirty-five-year-old douchebag," Detective Evans explained. "She asked us to call you."

He nodded. "Thanks for the heads up."

"Must be tough, having a teenager like that," the detective said as they walked to where Ivy was being held. "You're her stepfather, Counsellor?"

"I -"

"Your girl did good," the detective said, cutting Rafael's reply off. "She knew right away to tell us to call you."

He shook his head, and Ivy immediately came into view. "Ivy," he said, eyeing her, "what the hell happened here?!"

The teenager got up and came over to the bars. "I didn't do anything, I swear. I didn't," the girl said, clearly fairly alert. "Just tell them to let me out."

He eyed the girl for a moment and started to turn around. "She's out of chances. Maybe spending the night will be good for her."

"No," Ivy said, "you can't... you can't leave me here. I'll be good. I promise I will."

He sighed, turning to better face her. "I'll be back for you in the morning." He immediately started walking away.

"What? So, I'll learn my lesson, is that it?" Ivy called out. "Because it's not going to happen." He played with his face some. "We both know there's only one thing I'm good for." He kept walking. "Come back! I'm sorry!" The girl was audibly crying now. "Please, don't leave me here!"

He couldn't take it, and walked back, immediately eyeing the teenager. "You're good for so much more, Ivy," he said, "you just need to realize that. Don't let Getz take even more from you than he already has. I'll come to get you in the morning." With that, Rafael left, ignoring Ivy's pleading and crying.

He got home and immediately poured himself a glass of scotch. The kids had already been asleep when he got home.

"Rough night, Love?" Olivia asked, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah," he said, quickly explaining the situation. He watched as several emotions played across her face as he did so.

"You're leaving Ivy Bucci in the holding cell at the 1-1 all night," Olivia said a tad incredulously once he'd finished explaining.

"Tough love," he said. "I'll stay up and check with the desk sergeant once an hour." He took another sip of his drink. "But, if this is what it's like having a teenager, I'm never going to be ready."

She gave him a small smile. You reassured her but didn't back down. I don't think you could've done it any better. And, it won't hurt to let her stew for a bit."

He pulled Olivia in for a kiss. "I love you, you know that?"

"Oh, I know," she murmured against his lips as they kissed again.

"Good," he said softly.


	152. Chapter 152

"How are the kids, Counsellor?" Judge Copeland inquired.

"Doing well, thank you," he said.

The judge smiled. "I'm glad to hear that."

Mrs. Bucci eyed the judge. "My daughter is sorry, Your Honour."

"I need to hear that from her Mrs. Bucci," Judge Copeland replied. "Ivy, the charges against you are serious. You could be looking at prison time. Do you understand this?"

The teenager nodded. "Yes."

"Mr. Barba," the judge questioned, "you wanted to say something on Ivy's behalf?

He dipped his head slightly. "Yes, Your Honour." He swallowed and glanced at Ivy. "Miss Bucci was sex trafficked by Steve Getz. She cooperated fully with the D.A's Office until Mr. Getz's suicide. Her father went to prison trying to protect her." He gave the judge a pointed look, allowing his emotions to show through. "She's a victim, on her way to becoming a survivor. I believe that justice would best be served by giving her access to mental health resources, not prison."

He glanced at the girl briefly, who was now silently crying, before turning his attention back to the judge.

"Okay," the judge said. "In these circumstances, I would consider court-ordered rehab. _If_ Ivy can assure me that she's willing to change."

"I'll try," the teenager said. "I'm really going to." She glanced at Rafael. "I will."

"Given your history, Ivy," the judge said, "I will adjourn your case. But, this is not a '_get out of jail free'_ card." She eyed Ivy as she continued. "If I don't see real progress, I _will _remand you. You understand?"

The girl nodded. "Yes."

Rafael was stunned by what came out of the useless mother's mouth once her daughter had finished answering the judge. "Excuse me, Your Honour. Does the state pay for that? It's really expensive."

"Yes, it is," Rafael agreed, not taking his eyes off the judge, "but Ivy still has three months on her father's NYPD Cobra."

The judge nodded, writing something down. He lingered for a moment, before heading towards the door. "Mr. Barba, why are you trying to help me?"

"I already told you," he told her. "You're better than all of this. What Getz did to you, that doesn't define who _you_ are."

"Maybe it does," she said, with an emotion in her voice that would've been quite hard to read if Rafael didn't know it intimately from personal experience.

"Does the sexual abuse I went through define me then?" he inquired softly, forcing himself to get the words out. He'd largely come to terms with it decades ago, but it wasn't something that really went away, and never seemed to get easier to discuss.

She gave him a stunned look. "You were -?"

He nodded. "My uncle."

She nodded, clearly unsure of what to say. "Um, will you tell my dad that I'm doing what I'm supposed to? That I'm being good?"

He gave her a small smile. "I will. Hang in there, Ivy." He grabbed a piece of paper out of his pocket and wrote his information down. He lowered his voice. "You need anything, contact me." He purposely gave a tilt of the head towards the girl's mother. "Focus on you. And I mean it, Ivy."

Ivy looked at him and spoke loud enough for his ears only. "She doesn't have my best interest at heart either, does she?"

He sighed. The situation was more than a little complicated. "Look after yourself. And your sister. If you two need anything, and I mean anything Ivy, call me. Got it?"

The girl nodded. "Thank you."

Leaving family court, a rather tired Rafael - from tossing and turning the night before - headed both his office, large coffee in hand, to hopefully get some work done before either lunchtime or SVU called him about yet another case.

"No soporto parquear el carro en la ciudad," he muttered under his breath as he _finally_ got out of the car, having _finally_ found a parking spot. It was ridiculous trying to park some days. (I can't stand parking the car in the city.)

Letting go of his slight irritation, he went inside, briefly talked to Carmen about some changes to his schedule for the day, and closed himself in his office, getting straight to work on dealing with the pile of folders on his desk.

Rafael had the next couple of hours to himself, managing to make a fair amount of progress. As such, he took a break and went to Forlini's for lunch, texting with his wife, Rita, and Eddie while he ate.

After close to an hour at Forlini's, he headed back to his office, immediately getting right down to work - making calls and managing his files - again.

He had a short meeting at three-thirty, and then, he grabbed a few files to work on at home and left the office. He also felt that he needed to actually spend some time with his family as he'd been working so much the week prior. Olivia having a crazy schedule as well, and, thus, understanding, was one thing. He really didn't want to be the father that was never there, and that was far from an easy feat with his job. He tried his hardest, though, as did Olivia.

He walked through the front door and instantly heard chatter coming from the backyard. Keeping his shoes on, he threw his files into the study and headed to the backyard to see what Lucy and the kids were up to.

He greeted Noah and Lucy, the boy chatting excitedly about something or other as Rafael's attention was pulled to Sofía who was waving, saying, "¡Papá, papá!"

Grinning, he watched as the little girl started happily scurrying towards him. He met her halfway, immediately picking her up as requested once she was standing in front of him. "Hola, mi princesita." He tickled her toes briefly, causing her to laugh, before adjusting his hold on her and turning his attention to Lucy and Noah once more. "Bueno, you were saying that you played with Will today?" William was not only one of Noah's good friends from school, but the family also happened to live just a couple of houses down from them. (Hello, my little princess.)

"Yeah!" Noah said with no lack of enthusiasm. "He and Leo brought over their super soakers, and Lucy made us cookies!"

He grinned. "Well, that was very nice of Lucy."

"Chocolate chip cookies," the young woman said with a laugh, "a failsafe is there ever was one. The kids were thrilled."

"Indeed," he replied with a chuckle. "There's a reason certain things are kept in the higher cupboards in this house." He gave Noah a cheeky smile. "_Someone_ has a massive sweet tooth."

Noah rolled his eyes, clearly amused. "Pot. Kettle. Black."

He laughed even harder at the comment he and Olivia often said to each other. He often forgot just how observant Noah was. "Well, you're not wrong. Anyway, were Will and Leo here for lunch too or just to play?"

"Just to play," Noah said. "Their grandma and grandpa came over for lunch or something today, apparently."

"Cool," he said, turning to Lucy. "And the kids were good?"

"Yes," she said with a soft chuckle. "It was fine. They're all good kids, and the little spat they did have, they sorted out quite quickly by themselves."

"Good," he said, ruffling Noah's hair. "Because I was thinking of grabbing ice cream cones this afternoon."

His son grinned. "Can we?"

"Of course we can," he said, the warm smile never leaving his face. "Want to join us, Lucy? My treat."

"Sure," the young woman replied, "I'd have to be crazy to turn down free ice cream."

"True," Noah quipped, "but we'd love you anyway."

"Gee," Lucy replied, "thanks, kiddo!"

Rafael shook his head, watching the pair fondly. "Go throw some footwear on, Mijo, while I grab Sof's stroller."

"Okay, Papi," Noah chirped, immediately running to do as asked.

"That kid is sure something else," Lucy said with a look of adoration.

"He sure is," Rafael replied fondly, nose crinkling as he smiled.


	153. Chapter 153

The next week was even more hectic than the last. Rafael had to appear in court every day that week and had numerous meetings. When he wasn't in court or in a meeting he was on the phone with an ADA, in his office, dealing with one problem or another.

On top of that, he and Olivia were trying to figure out What their next move was with the foundation. They had a few ideas, but nothing that they'd firmly settled on.

And when he was home, they were getting the house cleaned up and packing for their trip, while trying to manage to high energy kids. Thankfully, some of the things they needed for Sofía were at Rafael's aunt's place still from the last trip down.

The kids had a blast though as Lucy took them to the park every day, and they had more than a few picnics in Central Park. Despite putting on lots of sunscreen, Noah was at the park or in the backyard - playing with the sprinkler, which meant the boy had actually gotten some colour on him. Rafael figured that by the end of their Florida trip, Noah was going to be more tanned than him, not that that was a difficult prospect in and of itself.

Finally, though, Friday evening came. They had pizza for dinner, and just relaxed, watching some TV, before they put both kids to bed slightly earlier than usual. Sofía was tired, so passed out easily, but Noah was a little more difficult. Still, the young boy quickly curbed his attitude and went to bed.

The next morning was definitely an earlier one, but it was well worth it when they finally landed at Miami International Airport just after 10:30 that morning.

They went and got settled into the three-bedroom house that they were renting in the Upper East Side. It had a swimming pool, but they were more likely going to just go to the beach instead of using it. His mother had opted to stay in Kendall again with her sister, which really didn't surprise him.

Olivia and his mother watched the kids while Rafael got some basic grocery shopping done, playing with them in the backyard, and then they quickly fed the kids lunch before making the half-hour drive out to his Tía Claudia's.

They all hung out for a few hours, prattling on, had a rather large lunch, and then headed outside, during which time one of the neighbours' kids heard Noah chatting loudly and popped his head over the gate. "Oye, ¿es Noah?" (Hey, is that Noah?)

Noah grinned as he recognized who was speaking to him. "¡Sí! Soy yo." (Yes! It's me.)

"¡Qué cool!" the eight-year-old said with a huge grin plastered on his face. "¡Ustedes finalmente están aquí! (Cool! You guys are finally here!)

"No," Rafael said, giving the boy a cheeky smile. "Somos producto de tu imaginación." (We're a figment of your imagination.)

Iván rolled his eyes. "Muy gracioso, señor." He then looked between Olivia and Rafael. "¿Puede Noah venir a jugar?" (Very funny, sir. Can Noah come over to play?)

Rafael eyed his wife. He really didn't mind if Noah wanted to go play for a while, as they'd see a hell of a lot of his family that week, but knew that she likely figured Rafael would mind. "Liv, mi amor?" (Liv, my love?)

"Claro, Iván, si está bien con tus padres," Olivia replied. She clearly didn't mind much either given her light tone and easy reply. (Sure, Iván, if it's alright with your parents.)

"¡Ve a buscar a tu mamá para que podamos preguntar!" Noah exclaimed excitedly. The boys had become friends of a sort the last time they'd visited the Magic City and had kept in touch, so Noah, understandably, wanted to go play with his friend for a bit rather than hang out with the adults. (Go get your mom so we can ask!)

Señora Núñez was outside mere minutes later and happily agreed to have Noah over for a bit, which both of the kids were absolutely ecstatic about. The woman was such a cubanaza, and watching her mess with Olivia, la gringa, was more than a little hilarious to watch. He was proud when Olivia fired right back, in Spanish no less, giving the woman as good as she got. Anyway, while the boys played, and Sofía napped in the house, the adults continued their conversation, largely catching up with each other after the rather interesting last few months that they'd all had.

He was talking with Camila who brought up the fact she'd left the airline company she'd worked for. She'd worked for them for almost a decade, but had apparently decided that she wanted a change. "¿Qué te hizo querer cambiar de carrera?" (What made you want to switch careers?)

"Honestamente," Camila said, "quería un horario más estable." She sighed softly, regarding him as she spoke. "Es el último año de escuela de Javi, y Tony comenzará en Belén en septiembre. E Isabel..." (Honestly, I wanted a more stable schedule. It's Javi's final year of school, and Tony is starting at Belén in September. And Isabel...)

He dipped his head slightly. "Lo entiendo." (I get it.)

Camila gave him a small smile. "Bueno, ¿tu vieja guitarra sigue siendo decorativa?" she inquired, deliberately changing the subject to something less heavy. (So, is your old guitar still decorative?)

"La saqué una o dos veces," he replied, "pero he estado bastante ocupado." (I've brought it out once or twice, but I've been rather busy.)

Ricardo finally chimed in, a soft smile playing on the man's lips. "No te he visto tocar la guitarra desde el bachillerato." (I haven't seen you play the guitar since high school.)

"Rafi odiaba las clases de guitarra que le hice tomar," his mother said with a slight note of amusement in her voice. (Rafi hated the guitar lessons I made him take.)

His Tía Claudia rolled her eyes. "No lo hagas empezar." (Don't get him started.)

"Oh, lo hice," he agreed readily, ignoring his aunt, "pero, curiosamente, todavía recuerdo la mayor parte de lo que me enseñaron. Entonces, las clases valieron la pena." (Oh, I did, but, funnily enough, I still remember most of what I was taught. So, the classes were worth it.)

His mother smirked. "Te lo dije." (I told you so.)

He raised an eyebrow, eyeing his mother, but didn't bother to comment. He learned a long time ago to pick his battles when it came to his mother.

"Durante años, nuncta mencionó que podía tocar la guitarra," Olivia chimed in, giving him a cheeky smile. "Necesitaba mudarme con el hombre para descubrirlo." (For years, he never mentioned that he could play the guitar. I needed to move in with the man to find out.)

He rolled his eyes slightly, giving his wife a look of fond exasperation. "Y habíamos estado trabajando juntos durante un par de años antes de oírte decir una sola palabra en español." (And we'd been working together for a couple of years before I heard you utter a single word in Spanish.)

She chuckled slightly at that, eyes sparkling with pure contentment as she looked back at him. "Cierto. Siempre lleno de sorpresas." (True. Always full of surprises.)

He gave her a sideways smile, feeling more relaxed and content than he had in a while, the stress from work ignored for a while, surrounded by family. He loved his job, but it could take a toll on you. "Seguro." (Definitely.)


	154. Chapter 154

Sunday, they slept in slightly but were still up and ready in time to go to Mass at Saint Catherine of Siena with everybody. Señora Alvarez ended up bringing up the kids, questioning if they were going to ever be initiated into the church. Olivia and Rafael both explained that Noah would be starting RCIC in September and that Sofía would be baptized after the adoption was finalized the first week of September - with Carisi and Rollins being named the godparents.

He and Olivia had discussed it on numerous occasions, with Noah's involvement more than once, but decided that it was something they wanted to do for the kids. The kids would grow up with that grounding, in the church, and be fully equipped to make the choice for themselves later in life.

_"I always figured I'd, uh, I'd end up walking away," he had said to Olivia during one of these conversations. "It probably would've been easier."_

_"You're lucky that you didn't," his wife had replied. She then went on to say some things, one point sticking with him in particular. "- technology alienating us, making us less human. Maybe we should be searching for something else."_

It hadn't been a hard choice for them, as they all went to Mass regularly anyways, but would affect the children's relationship when they were older. Ultimately, though, if the children ended up lapsed or walking away, they wouldn't be upset. The choice was the kids'. They just wanted to children in the best position to make that choice. Even then, Rafael never forced Noah to go to Mass when he didn't want to, which had happened more than once. He disagreed with that as a general rule, maybe because he himself had been a lapsed Catholic for years.

They then headed back to his aunt's for the day, and chatted some, while trying to keep an eye on Sofía who was running every which way, before they sat down for lunch. His mother and aunt had made tamal en cazuela, masas de puerco, fried sweet plantains, along with an avocado salad. Everyone had coffee, though Noah only had a sip of Rafael's before drinking his own glass of Materva.

After eating, Olivia changed and put Sofía down for a nap and joined the rest of them in the living room where they were chatting away about something or other, Noah off to the side playing a card game with Antonio.

Multiple conversations were going on at the same time, but Rafael was currently talking with Ricardo and the man's father, José (Pepe) Alvarez. The men were sharing some funny stories about Cuba - more specifically, stories about Santa Clara. "Y también el burro Perico," he said. "Cuando mi madre y Abuelita Cati me dijeron, pensé que me estaban tomando el pelo. Mi abuela tuvo que mostrarme una foto antes de que realmente lo creyera." (And also the donkey Perico. When my mother and Abuelita Cati told me, I thought they were pulling my hair. My grandmother had to show me a photo before I genuinely believed it.)

It was a rather odd, yet funny, story. This donkey, Perico, ended up becoming rather well known in Santa Clara for sort of just _being_. He'd kind of become a mascot of sorts to the santaclareños. Those who knew him said that at first, he pulled a cart with ice cream. One day his owner bought a truck and gave Perico freedom. Then, Perico began to make his own story as he travelled the city, becoming friends with the children and eating the bread offered to him at the doors of the houses.

He was said to have been imprisoned once for grazing in the central park, a situation that did not go over well because the animal was, without a doubt, Santa Clara's pet. The animal passed away in early 1947 or something like that. It was a huge ordeal and lots of children and adults brought flowers to commemorate. He had his own little monument as well.

"Perico tocaba en la puerta de la casa de tus bisabuelos porque Cati le guardaba comida todas las noches," Ricardo said with fond amusement. "Le encantaba compartir esa historia." (Perico knocked on the door of your great-grandparents' house because Cati kept food for him every night. She loved sharing that story.)

He shook his head, chuckling. "Oh, lo sé." (Oh, I know.)

"Supongo que él era una alegría para los pequeñitos de la ciudad," Señor Alvarez added. "Definitivamente se ha convertido en una leyenda." (I guess he was a joy for the little ones in the city. He has definitely become a legend.)

Rafael nodded. "O algo así." (Or something like that.)

"Bueno," Ricardo said, "tu mamá me va a matar por contar esto, ¡pero no vas a creer lo que hizo cuando era una adolescente!" (Okay, your mother is going to kill me for recounting this, but you won't believe what she did when she was a teenager!)

Ricardo immediately went off recounting one of his mother's more clever escapades at a social club when she ran into an ex-boyfriend of hers with another girl. Rafael was still laughing ridiculously hard at the story about his mother when the woman in question appeared right there beside him. "¿Qué pasa?" (What's up?)

"Oh, nada, mami," he said, giving his mother a cheeky look. (Oh, nothing, Mami.)

His mother rolled her eyes. "Claramente." (Clearly.)

"Y te preguntas por qué nuestro hijo ha comenzado a poner los ojos en blanco todo el tiempo," Olivia quipped, now standing right behind his mother and shooting Rafael an amused look. (And you wonder why our son has started rolling his eyes.)

"Claramente lo aprendió de ti," he said with a soft chuckle, the smile never leaving his lips. (Clearly, he gets it from you.)

Now it was Olivia's turn to give them an eye roll. "Obviamente." (Obviously.)

The rest of the adults joined them and they chatted for a while before Noah and Camila's kids came over to where they were. The conversation was rather kid-friendly, for Noah's sake, but was still very much about Cuba and everything that had happened.

As was to be expected, the seven-year-old has some questions. He eyed Ricardo and the man's father. "¿Cuándo vinieron ustedes a los Estados Unidos?" (When did you guys come to the U.S?)

Señor Alvarez gave Noah a wistful smile, answering the question easily. "Hace cincuenta y nueve años, chico." (Fifty-nine years ago, Kid.)

"¿Ustedes vinieron aquí todos juntos?" Noah questioned curiously, glancing between the father and son pair. (Did you guys all come here together?)

"No," Ricardo said, shaking his head. "Vine aquí a principios de 1961 con mi hermana, mamá, tía y primos. Cuando mi padre, tío y abuelos decidieron salir Cuba después de la invasión de Bahía de Cochinos, arrestaron a mi padre y lo acusaron de robar en su propia tienda. Fue puesto en libertad y finalmente llegó aquí tres meses después." (I came in early 1961 with my sister, mom, aunt and cousins. When my father, uncle and grandparents decided to leave Cuba after the Bay of Pigs invasion, they arrested my father and accused him of stealing from his own store. He was released and finally arrived here three months later.)

Noah turned and eyed his grandmother curiously. "¿Cuándo viniste, Abuelita?" (When did you come, Abuelita?)

"1962," the woman swiftly explained. " El año siguiente." (The following year.)

"Oh," the boy chirped. Then he eyed everyone again. "¿Qué es la invasión de Bahía de Cochinos?" (What is the Bay of Pigs invasion?)

"La invasión de la Bahía de Cochinos fue un intento en 1961 para sacar a Fidel Castro del poder en Cuba," Rafael tried to explain as simply as he could. "El gobierno estadounidense entrenó a los exiliados cubanos y estos exiliados lanzaron un ataque en una bahía llamada Bahía de Cochinos." (The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an attempt in 1961 to remove Fidel Castro from power in Cuba. The U.S trained Cuban exiles and these exiles launched an attack in a bay called the Bay of Pigs.)

Noah nodded. "Creo que lo entiendo," the boy said. (I think I got it.)

"Todo puede ser un poco complicado," Isabel said, "pero no te preocupes por eso." (It can all be a bit confusing, but don't worry about it.)

Rafael dipped his head slightly, giving the boy a warm smile. He then tried to change the topic to something a bit lighter. "Entonces, tu mamá y yo tenemos una sorpresa muy chévere para ti." (So, your mom and I have a really cool surprise for you.)

Noah immediately grinned, looking at Olivia excitedly. "What, Mama? What?"

Olivia just laughed. "We're going to the Seaquarium tomorrow."

"¡Qué cool!" Noah exclaimed happily, jumping up and down slightly. "Do I get to see the penguins and dolphins?" (How cool!)

"And more than a few other animals," Rafael said with a chuckle. He pointed to his mother slightly with his chin. "And your grandmother's coming with us."

"Really?" Noah asked with a huge grin. The boy immediately turned to better face his grandmother. "¿Vienes con nosotros?" (You're coming with us?)

Lucía Barba ruffled her grandson's hair. "Claro que sí. ¿Quién no quiere ver pingüinos?" (Of course. Who wouldn't want to seem some penguins?)


	155. Chapter 155

Monday morning, Rafael woke up a bit earlier than his wife. Quietly getting out of bed, he had a quick shower and threw on a light blue, linen, short-sleeve shirt and a pair of off-white shorts.

He then went out to see Noah quietly watching TV, already dressed in blue shorts and a white, short-sleeved, guayabera. He'd apparently been up for a bit, most likely out of excitement, by the look of things.

"Buenas," Rafael said, yawning slightly. (Mornin'.)

His son immediately glanced over at him, momentarily taking his eyes off of whatever cartoon that he was watching. "Buenos días, Papi." (Good morning, Papi.)

"¿Has desayunado?" Rafael inquired, wondering if the boy had opted to pour himself some cereal instead of waiting for them to get up. (Have you had breakfast?)

"No," the boy replied. "Todavía no." (Not yet.)

"¿Qué te parece si nos preparo tortillas de plátano?" Rafael suggested, wracking his brain. "¿O quieres panqueques? También hay cereales." (How about I make us some plantain omelettes? Or do you want pancakes? There's also cereal.)

Noah seemed to consider his options for a brief moment. "No quiero conflei p'al desayuno," the boy replied. "¿Puedo tener una tortilla, por favor?" (I don't want cornflakes for breakfast. Can I have an omelette, please?)

Rafael grinned to himself, amused by how utterly Cuban not only Noah's accent but his turns of phrase had become. The boy really had learned a lot in the last couple of years, and Rafael felt absurdly proud of the little boy that he'd come to think of as his own. Not missing a beat, however, Rafael quickly nodded. "Claro." (Sure.)

"Gracias, Papi." (Thanks, Papi.)

They chatted for another moment, and then Rafael heard Sofía up and making noise. She sounded content enough, but he quickly went get her before the happy babbling turned into a fit and woke Olivia up.

He changed Sofía, got her ready for the day - dressing her in a light purple guayabera dress - and headed downstairs to make breakfast. Noah had just finished setting the table for him when he heard Olivia start walking down the stairs. He started serving breakfast and had just put her omelette on her plate when she finally walked in.

"Morning, sleepyhead," he teased, picking up some of the food that Sofía had just accidentally dropped on the floor.

His wife smiled softly at him. "Morning." She sniffed, the smile on her face growing as she did so. "Breakfast smells great, Love."

"Sí," Noah exclaimed happily, the kid shoving another mouthful of food into his mouth quickly. "¡Te la comiste!" (Yeah. You nailed it!)

He shook his head, amused. "I'm glad you both approve."

They all ate, Olivia did the dishes, and then they lounged around for about an hour. At that point, they got ready and finally got in the car, a bit of a project in and of itself with the kids, and started to make the twenty-minute drive to the Miami Seaquarium where they were meeting up with his mother.

"Are we there yet?" Noah inquired for the umpteenth time in the last ten minutes.

He could see Olivia biting her lip, trying not to laugh at Rafael's expression out of the corner of his eye. "No," he said. "We're close to ten minutes away. Why don't you read one of the books you brought with you?"

"That _is_ what you brought them for," Olivia pointed out.

"Fine," Noah said with a dramatic sigh, rummaging around the back for a book to read. He made it seem like he'd been in the car for several hours when it had literally been a mere ten minutes.

By the time they pulled into the parking lot at the Seaquarium, even Rafael was glad to be getting out of the car.

They walked to the entrance and immediately spotted his mother who was waving at them from off to the side where she'd been waiting.

"Good morning," his mother greeted them, smiling warmly, as they walked up to her. "It's about time you guys got here."

He rolled his eyes at his mother's antics. He knew she was just teasing him, but the eye roll was well deserved in his opinion. He then gave the woman a quick kiss on the cheek. "We're only fifteen minutes late, Mami."

His mother laughed. "I'm just teasing you, Mijo. I've only just got here myself."

He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

"Okay then," Olivia said with a laugh. "How was your drive here?"

"Good," the Barba matriarch said, "but I'm assuming my son had a fun drive."

"Riveting," he said with a snort, smiling in spite of himself. Yes, the bombarding with '_Are we there yet?'_ was a bit irritating, but he was glad Noah was so excited about what they were doing. That was a large part of why they were doing it. They wanted Noah to have these experiences that neither Olivia or himself really had growing up.

"Can we go in?" Noah asked excitedly.

"Yes," Rafael said, ruffling the boy's hair. "Let's go get in line."

"YAY!" Noah said, immediately grabbing Olivia's hand and rushing them over to where they had to go to show their tickets.

They started off at the Conservation Outpost, then went to the Caribbean Flamingos. Sofía's reaction was hilarious because she clearly had no idea what to make of the rather large birds.

Noah insisted on the fact, so they then headed to the Penguin Isle, where Noah was clearly in his element. Afterwards, they went through the Dolphin exhibit and the Sea Turtle exhibit, where Noah kept asking a million and one questions.

They then decided to check out the Manatee exhibit before stopping for lunch at the Manatee Bay Café. They'd settled on bringing some fruit for Sofía in her diaper bag, but also bought her the chicken fingers, obviously cutting them up, and some milk. Noah opted for the chicken fingers as well, and the adults all ended up ordering burgers. It was a little bit more expensive than it should be given the less than spectacular quality, but that was honestly expected given the location, so it was what it was. They needed to eat or they'd be dealing with cranky kids.

After lunch, they went and saw the Flipper Dolphin show, which was honestly rather cool, and Noah was absolutely ecstatic about. Thankfully, the noise wasn't too disturbing for Sofía and she did manage to get a bit of a nap in, eventually falling asleep in her stroller.

They then made their way to the Seal and Sea Lion exhibit, the Tropical Wings exhibit, and the Stingray exhibit. They ended the day at 'Discovery Keys' where they had red mangroves, wild marine birds and shallow water pools, and afterwards, rather exhausted, headed to Kendall for dinner at his aunt's.

Dinner was extremely nice, and they all enjoyed themselves, but it all definitely made for an extremely long day.

When they were back at the house they were renting, both kids asleep, Rafael collapsed on the couch. He was exhausted and they really needed a break from walking the entire day. Noah especially, or the boy was going to quickly become cranky and irritable. They could already see it starting. "Beach day tomorrow. Definitely need a beach day."

His wife chuckled. "I was thinking the exact same thing."


	156. Chapter 156

"Hace un calor afuera que le ronca el mango," Rafael muttered under his breath, several plastic bags in hand. He was already sweating from the walk from the car to the front door. He'd had to quickly run to the store to buy a couple of things, most of which was for Sofía. (It's so damn hot outside!)

August was one of the hottest months in Miami, and although he loved it, today definitely needed to be a beach day. Being born and growing up in New York, he was obviously used to it being slightly cooler. Still, he'd take the heat over the cold any day. He hated the cold with a passion. Always would.

He closed the door behind him with his foot, and started walking towards the kitchen. He narrowed his eyes, however, when Noah ran up to him and took two of the bags from him in an attempt to help out. More often than not Rafael would have to physically ask Noah to help him with groceries etc. The boy _would_ help, but wasn't one to usually take the initiative. "Ese huevo quiere sal." (You must want something.)

Noah immediately gave him a funny look, confirming Rafael's suspicions, but the boy didn't speak until they'd put all the bags down on the kitchen counter. "¿Podemos ir a la librería esta semana?" (Can we go to the bookstore this week?)

Rafael crossed his arms, eyeing his son. "¿Por qué?" (Why?)

Noah fidgeted slightly. "Se me le derramó el jugo de manzana en mi libro favorito," the boy informed him. (I accidentally spilled apple juice on my favourite book.)

Rafael immediately pressed his lips together. "Preguntale a tu mamá," he said when he spoke a second later. (Ask your mom.)

"Ella me dijo que te preguntara," Noah quickly explained, giving Rafael puppy dog eyes the entire time. "¡Por favorcito!" (She told me to ask you. Pretty please!)

Rafael considered it as it really wasn't a big deal. They'd planned on going to the book store before their trip anyway, but had been rather busy. "Está bien, pero debes tener más cuidado con tus pertenencias. ¿Entendido?" (Alright, but you need to be more careful with you belongings. Understood?)

"Sí, papi," Noah replied, hands in his pockets. "Lo siento." (Yes, Papi. I'm sorry.)

"Está bien," he assured his son, giving the boy a warm smile now that the initial irritation had passed. "Los accidentes ocurren. Solo ten más cuidado la próxima vez." (It's fine. Accidents happen. Just be more careful next time.)

Olivia chose then to walk in, holding Sofía, a warm smile on her face. "You were fast."

"Perks of having lived here for a bit," he quipped. "A lot less wondering around aimlessly looking for what I want."

Olivia gave a happy little hum. "Fair enough." She gave him a sideways look. "Has Noah talked to you yet?

He dipped his head slightly. "He has. Apparently there was a little juice mishap?"

"All over the place," she confirmed, "but we got it cleaned up easily enough. Well, save for the book that got ruined."

"Well, that's something at least." He gestured to Noah. "I told him we'd go to the bookstore today, _but_ that _somebody_ needs to take better care of their things."

"Good," Olivia deadpanned. "Maybe after hearing it twice it'll stick."

Noah looked sheepish. "Sorry."

Olivia ruffled their son's hair. "Just be more careful."

The boy nodded and then turned to face Rafael. "When are we going to the beach?"

"In an hour," Rafael replied, "so, if you want that book go get your shoes on. I'll take you while your mom finishes packing for the beach."

"Okay!" the boy exclaimed, immediately running off to grab his shoes.

He turned to chat with Olivia about their plans for a second and then kissed her goodbye, walking out to the rental car with Noah.

Thankfully, parking at Books & Books wasn't too bad and they quickly found a spot.

As they were walking into the store, he turned to the rather excitable kid that was holding his hand. "¿Tienes alguna idea de qué libro te gustaría, Mijo?" Do you have any idea which book you would like, Mijo?)

The seven-year-old boy shook his head firmly in the negative. "No. ¿Puedo mirar un poco alrededor?" (Can I look around a bit?)

"No," he deadpanned, "la guagua sale en diez minutos." He finished the statement off with wink, making it clear that he was simply teasing. (The bus leaves in ten minutes.)

Noah threw his hand over his mouth in feigned shock. "¿No te dijo mamá que cambió la hora de los boletos?" (Didn't Mom tell you that the ticket time changed?)

Rafael threw his head back, laughing. "Vamos, sabelotodo." (Come on, smart aleck.)

His son's only response was to roll his eyes and keep walking, which only served to amuse Rafael even more. _Cheeky brat._

They wandered around the store for about fifteen minutes before Noah settled on an adventure book. Rafael then paid for Noah's book and they headed back to the house to get ready for the beach.

They met his mother at South Pointe Park on Miami Beach and spent the better part of the day there, having a little picnic for lunch. They were all more then glad to just relax and play in the water for a while.

In addition to the beach access, there were green areas, and a children's playground with water features. It really was an awesome little spot to take the kid.

At around four o'clock, Rafael's little family decided to headed to Little Havana, quickly making their way to Calle Ocho once there. His mother ended up going to meet up with some old friends of hers.

They hadn't been there long when Rafael suggested they get some guarapo from Los Pinareños, explaining what the drink was. They also agreed the grab some ice cream at Azúcar after Noah ask if they could.

"What flavor do you want?" Olivia asked their son.

The boy gave a little hum. "Mango?"

Rafael chuckled. "Is that a question or a choice?"

Noah immediately rolled his eyes. "Mango, please."

"Okay," Olivia said. "And I'm going to go with the Mantecado."

Rafael nodded. "So, one Mango, one Mantecado, and one Mamey."

The line wasn't long, so they only had to wait for a couple more minutes before they were able to place their orders.

Drink and ice cream in hand, they made their way to the Walk of Fame, Rafael giving little anecdotes when he could about the people represented, eventually heading to the Memorial Boulevard.

They wondered around, just checking things out for a while before heading to Versailles for a later dinner with his Tía Claudia and Ricardo.

They weren't back at the house long when they had Noah take a quick shower, put on his pyjamas, and brush his teeth.

While Noah was doing that, Olivia got Sofía ready for bed. The little girl was a bit cranky, but they were hoping that she would manage to fall asleep rather quickly once Olivia put her down in her playpen.

With Noah ready for bed, Rafael read him a bedtime story and the knelt for prayer time, starting with the Our Father and Hail Mary.

Olivia came in to say goodnight to Noah as well towards the end and watched quietly as Noah continued praying. "Ángel de la Guarda," their son recited softly, "dulce compañía, no me desampares ni de noche ni de día. Con Dios me acuesto, con Dios me levanto, con la virgen María y el espíritu Santo." (Guardian Angel, sweet company, do not forsake me, night or day. With God I go to bed, with God I get up, with the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit.)

Rafael chimed in after a slight pause. "Dios Mío, gracias por tantas bendiciones recibidas, gracias por tu perdón y misericordia. Ten piedad de aquellos que no te aman o hacen daño. Bendice nuestras familias, nuestros hogares, bendice a los enfermos y a los que están solos. Gracias por la vida. Danos un descanso seguro y reconfortante bajo tu protección. Amén." (My God, thank you for so many blessings received, thank you for your forgiveness and mercy. Have mercy on those who do not love or harm you. Bless our families, our homes, bless the sick and the lonely. Thanks for life. Give us a safe and comforting rest under your protection. Amen.)

"Amén," Noah chirped.

Rafael gave the boy a warm smile as both he and Noah got up.

Olivia came further into the room and tucked their son into bed, giving the boy a kiss on the forehead. "Sweet dreams. Sleep snug as a bug in a rug."

That got a little giggle from Noah.

"Que sueñes con los angelitos," Rafael murmured softly as he then gave their son a kiss on the forehead. "Sweet dreams."

They made their way out of the bedroom and once the door to Noah's room closed, Rafael turned to Olivia and pulled her in for a kiss. "I'm so lucky to have you, cariño."

Olivia murmured s reply against his lips. "And I, you."


	157. Chapter 157

"Mama," they could hear Noah call out, "I can't find my DC shirt!"

Olivia sighed slightly, as they were in the middle of getting some things ready so that they could go out for the day. "Why don't you wear your white and green one?"

"But I want my DC shirt!" Noah exclaimed with a whine.

His wife eyed him. "Can you please go get our son dressed?"

Rafael nodded to his wife. "Sure, Cariño." He raised his voice ever-so-slightly so that Noah could hear him from where he was. "Estaré allí en un momentico para ayudarte a buscar, Mijo, pero ¿verificaste si era con tu ropa sucia?" (I'll be there in a moment to help you search, Mijo, but did you check if it was with your dirty clothes?)

He immediately heard the telltale sound of a young boy quickly scurrying to another room down the hall. "¡Voy a chequear!" Noah called back. (I'm going to check!)

Rafael shook his head in fond exasperation, glancing at his wife. "Are we sure that kid doesn't need glasses or something?" As for Rafael himself, he was wearing his contacts when not at the house so that he actually could wear a pair of decent sunglasses.

She chuckled. "I think it's more of a 'desire to look' thing. Good luck."

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

Walking upstairs, and confirming it wasn't in the dirty laundry, Rafael spent the next ten minutes or so searching everywhere for the DC shirt-shirt Noah wanted to wear. "¿Puedes vestir otra camisa? No tengo idea de dónde está tu pulover." (Can you wear another shirt? I have no idea where your t-shirt is.)

Noah sighed. "Ok."

Rafael rummaged through his son's t-shirts quickly and pulled out the white t-shirt with owls that Noah often wore. "Aqui tienes. Te gusta este, y dará menos calor que el otro pulover." (Here. You like this one, and it'll be cooler than the other t-shirt.)

Noah nodded, throwing the t-shirt he was just passed on. "Gracias," the boy said, "pero todavía quiero mi otro pulover." (Thanks, but I still want my other t-shirt.)

Rafael gave his son a small smile. "Lo sé, Mijo. Continuaremos buscándolo en los próximos días. Estoy seguro de que lo encontraremos." (I know, Mijo. We'll keep looking for it over the next few days. I'm sure we'll find it.)

With the minor clothing disaster dealt with, father and son headed back downstairs joining Olivia and Sofía in the living room.

Noah was scrolling through the channels, trying to find something to watch, but couldn't seem to pick anything. After a moment, Rafael decided to just ask for the TV remote and switched it to Netflix, throwing on a show that they all liked.

They all watched some television together for about a half-hour before they decided to leave and headed to Wynwood for a bit.

After grabbing a coffee at Panther Coffee for Rafael they made their way to the Wynwood Walls, which they'd all seen before but thought were rather cool. It was a fun place to walk around. The artwork was extremely diverse and creative, especially the large murals covering the buildings.

Noah used the camera they'd bought him the year prior to take a bunch of photographs of everything, including some silly ones of Rafael, Olivia, and Sofía. He was oddly good at it for being so young, but Rafael looked ridiculous in more than a couple of the photos.

Sofía was too young to really appreciate it, but she was happy enough and the rest of them were enjoying themselves.

When it came to lunch, they'd went back and forth over going to Wynwood Diner or Joey's Italian Café to eat. Joey's had way more options though, Rafael knew, so they ended up heading there in the end.

Noah loved pasta so it was no real surprise when the boy ordered the kid's penne was what he ordered. Olivia got pasta as well and Rafael ended up putting a portion of his own spaghetti and meatballs onto a small second plate and cutting it all up for Sofía so she'd have something to eat as well. There was no point in ordering her a full dish she would never even get close to finishing. They had a bottle of milk in her diaper bag, so Olivia brought that out and the rest of them had soft drinks, both adults opting to not have a glass of wine while out with the kids.

After lunch, they headed to South Pointe. His mother joined them and they spent the afternoon there, only leaving when it was eventually time to head to Kendall for dinner with his Tía Claudia and Ricardo.

They were seated around the table chatting over food, and the conversation turned to some funny stories about Rafael growing up.

"I wasn't that bad," Rafael said with a snort.

His mother raised an eyebrow at that. "I beg to differ, Mijo." She eyed Olivia. "So, we were riding the 6 train from Manhattan back to the Bronx. That's twenty minutes, mind you. We hadn't been on the train long when a five-year-old Rafael decided to put his hand on the American man's shoulder in the seat in front of us and clear as day say, 'Mami, este hombre es muy gordo.'" (Mami, this man is very fat.)

"Seriously?" Olivia inquired, chuckling. "Well, as any parent can attest, kids really do say the darndest things."

"Come on, I was five!" Rafael exclaimed, also chuckling at what he'd done. "And it's not like it's a big deal in Cuban culture."

"No," his mother agreed, "but the poor American man didn't agree. I could've died."

"See," Noah said, turning to Olivia. "I could be worse."

She gave Noah a lopsided smile. "When you were four, we were walking through IKEA and there was a group of Muslim women wearing burqas. You just screamed out excitedly, "Look, Mama! Look at all the ninjas!'" She shook her head. "You have some spectacular stories of your own, Sweetie."

His aunt smirked. "Aren't kids great?"

"There's certainly never a dull moment," Olivia said with a chuckle.

The conversation over the rest of dinner was just as random, and they stuck around for quite a while after, playing dominos and listening to music, but eventually it was getting a bit late, and they seriously needed to get the kids to bed, so they'd started saying their goodbyes, making plans to meet up the following day, and driving back to the house to get some rest.

Both kids fell asleep in the car on the way home, so they were asleep in no time at all once they were tucked into bed.

Olivia covered her mouth as she yawned. "I think the kids have the right idea."

"You'll get no arguments from me there," he replied, giving Olivia a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm definitely ready for bed."


	158. Chapter 158

The next couple of days flew by. Thursday was spent at Zoo Miami and Lincoln Road Mall, and Friday was largely spent at Miami Beach. They'd thankfully been able to find Noah's shirt, under the bed. As for dinner that Friday night, the Alvarezes and Torreses joined them in Kendall for a nice meal, so it was lovely to get to see everyone.

Saturday morning was more than a little hectic, as was expected, but in a blink of an eye, they were on the flight home to New York City.

Sunday didn't seem nearly long enough, honestly, but before they knew it Monday morning had dawned and their alarms were going off, letting them know that it was time for them to get up and go back to work.

Monday morning honestly could've been worse. Thankfully, Novak was good at what she did and he was left with a rather light caseload. Still, he had a lot of calls he had to make; scheduling meetings and getting updates on various cases.

He also had some new cases on his desk that ECAB had just caught that Carmen had waiting on his desk for him when he walked in, but there weren't even many of those at the moment.

So, he managed to play catch up and actually take a decent lunch break. It was rather nice, actually, to be able to ease back into his chaotic schedule.

It was four o'clock when Rafael got a call regarding a case. He quickly went down to the precinct and was immediately debriefed on the situation.

The police had arrested a man from Harlem after he was reportedly caught having sex with a teenage girl from his apartment complex.

According to police, officers were called to the 2600 block of Fredrick Douglas Boulevard that day after someone spotted a suspicious vehicle. Inside they found a sixteen-year-old girl and a very much exposed Jaquan Jones.

The teen, Qiana Williams, later told police that the twenty-eight-year-old suspect was a good friend of the family and that the man picked her up from her home and they drove to a park nearby the apartment complex where they then had sex.

The arresting officers had arrived not much later. It wasn't the first time Jaquan Jones had been in trouble with the law but it was the first time for anything serious. Anything prior had just been your typical petty crime.

"And the girl consented?" Rafael inquired.

"Yeah," Olivia said. "Claims it was consensual."

"Which is ridiculous," Carisi pointed out, "but doesn't change that it's statutory at the very least. This case was as close to clearcut as it gets. Something that doesn't often happen in our world."

Rafael had to agree with that. There was a lot of grey area and ways for perpetrators to get off in a lot of the cases that came across his desk. This one, there was no real legal justification that would help Mr. Jones.

"You should've seen Qiana earlier," Rollins said with pursed lips. The detective had firmly decided to keep her last name for career's sake. "He's definitely got some sort of a hold on her. She _was _honest about everything, though."

Officer Tamin was shaking her head now. "Poor girl had absolutely no idea that she was just being used by Jones when we walked to her. You could see when that fact started to hit home for her."

Rafael sighed. "I'll arraign him tomorrow morning on Rape Three," Rafael said coolly. "He can sit and stew for a while. Not that I think it'll do him any good."

Fin gave a little snort. "But it'll do everyone else some good. The mere thought is doing wonders for my morale."

He rolled his eyes at the comment but didn't disagree.

The conversation trailed off quickly after that, Rafael knowing as much as the detectives did at the moment. Checking the time and his schedule, he ran to grab some things from his office and headed to the store to grab some things that they needed but hadn't grabbed the day before.

He'd stopped by a Latin bodega on the way home and was getting ready to check out when he saw someone he'd never expected to see again in his life. Eugenio Barba standing there in the flesh with some woman that Rafael guessed was his wife given the rings on both their hands, chatting away about something or other. Eugenio looked almost exactly as Rafael remembered him, just slightly older with a lot more grey.

The man spotted Rafael and started walking over to him.

He could feel the perspiration forming on his back. Rafael felt caged in, and he honestly thought he might be sick right there in the middle of the store if he didn't get out soon.

He immediately shoved that down as best as he could, however, and thanks to years of practice he had gotten rather good at it. He desperately tried to not let the overwhelming anxiety he was currently feeling show on his face.

"¡Oye, Rafael! ¡Sobrino mío!" the man called out, now standing directly in front of Rafael. "¿Cómo estás? No hemos hablado en años." (Hey, Rafael! Nephew of mine! How are you? We haven't talked in ages.)

Rafael shoved his slightly shaking hands in his vest pockets and forced a small smile. "Hola, Tío. Hace mucho tiempo, ¿no?" (Hello, Uncle. It has been a while, hasn't it?)

Just then the man pulled Rafael into a hug. Rafael tried hard not to flinch when his so-called uncle did that, trying not to make a scene in the middle of the store.

He then greeted the woman, giving her a kiss on the cheek, quickly finding out that the woman, Martha, was indeed Eugenio's wife.

The entire time Rafael felt like being sick. Martha seemed like a lovely lady, but Rafael wanted to be anywhere else than there. Still, he forced himself to stay calm and polite, paying for his purchases, before almost running from the store.

He shoved the bags in the back seat, texted Lucy - asking her to take the kids to the park for a bit, got in the car and drove home.

He didn't remember the drive home really and was more than a little stunned when he realized he was already outside his house.

His jaw was tight as he stood at the kitchen counter, pouring a third drink, then quickly downed it and poured himself another.

He hadn't even noticed Olivia's presence until she rested a hand on the small of his back and spoke. "Rafa, what's wrong?"

He just shook his head, taking another swig from his tumbler. If he'd been of a more present mind he might have noticed she didn't seem entirely surprised and would've surmised that Lucy, understandable concerned, had texted Olivia after talking to him to say she thought something was wrong.

"Talk to me?" his wife said softly, rubbing his back.

He shook his head gravely and took yet another swig of his drink. He then glanced at her and everything finally came crashing down on him.

He refused to look away, even as his lips trembled and his shoulders heaved with emotion, unwilling to back down. His dark lashes brimmed heavy with tears; his hands clenched into shaking fists, in a desperate battle against the grief.

A lone tear traced down his cheek, and just like that, the floodgates opened.

He wept, tears streaming from his light green eyes, loud, heaving sobs tearing from his throat, and still, he did not look away. Not until the sobs drove him to his knees did his determined gaze fall.

When his knees buckled, luckily, Olivia was aware enough to catch him, holding Rafael as he cried, thankful that the glass was on the countertop and not shattered on the floor. The concern was etched all over her face as Rafael wasn't one to cry, ever, let alone to cry with such intensity.

"Rafael, talk to me," she whispered once his breathing had mostly returned to normal, letting his head fall to her chest.

His throat was so dry and he hated the slight rasp his voice had taken on. He was slightly embarrassed about the breakdown and the entire mess, even though he knew that Olivia was the last person who would judge him for it. "I saw _him_," Rafael finally said after a long moment.

Olivia tilted her head slightly. "Him?" It took a moment but then Rafael saw her eyes go wide as realization dawned on her "You mean your uncle?"

He nodded, resting his head on her chest once more. "Yeah."

She made him look at her. Thankfully, her eyes held no pity. "None of what happened was your fault, Rafael. None of it. You know that."

He dipped his head slightly. "I know. Logically, I know, but seeing him... It brought everything back." He shook his head. "It was like being that little kid again." Rafael cleared his throat and stood up, making eye contact with his wife. "I never expected to see him again after all these years. He didn't even seem to remember or even think he'd ever done anything wrong. He acted like nothing ever happened."

She gave a kiss on the forehead. "Well, I'll remind you however many times I need to in order for it to sink back in." She squeezed his hand. "I love you. Don't second guess yourself. He's not worth it. You're an incredible man who's worth a hundred times the likes of that so-called man. Never forget that."

He gave her a chaste kiss. "Love you too, Liv. So much." Just then the strange thought hit him. "Not to be rude, but why are you home so early exactly?"

She gave him a sad smile. "Lucy was pretty sure something was wrong from the text you sent," she explained. "She figured it was just a very bad case at work.'I didn't bother correcting the assumption."

"Thanks," he said softly.

"Of course," she said. "Now, husband of mine, what do you say I text your mother to see if she'll babysit, we make some popcorn, and throw on some stupid comedy show we can poke fun at?"

He smiled more warmly now. "That actually sounds kind of perfect."


	159. Chapter 159

Tuesday morning dawned, and after a quick shower, Rafael threw on a simple white dress shirt, black suit vest, and a burgundy tie. He messed with his hair again and satisfied he headed downstairs to have breakfast with Olivia, who was already dressed and ready to go for the day.

Thankfully, Rafael was feeling way better than he had the night before, even if there was still anxiety there from knowing that his uncle was back in the city.

They'd eaten and chatted amicably and he'd just sat back down at the table from throwing the dishes in the dishwasher and pouring them both another cup of coffee. "There you," Rafael said warmly as he put her cup down in front of her.

"Thanks," Olivia said, returning the warm smile. "So, Lucy's going to grab the kids from your mother's around ten o'clock. But, Noah is supposed to go to Sam's today. What does your day look like? Are you going to be able to pick him up? I have a meeting with Dodds later today."

"Yeah, I should be able to pick him up later," Rafael said after a moment of wracking his brain to figure out his afternoon schedule.

She nodded. "Thanks."

He waved the comment off, still smiling warmly at her. "Don't worry about it." He took a sip of his coffee. "What's the meeting with the chief about?"

Olivia gave a little shrug. "He didn't say."

They chatted for a while longer and then Rafael got up and grabbed his things. He then gave Olivia a kiss goodbye, heading to work for the early meeting he had that morning before court.

The meeting with _Hang 'em High McCoy_ went well, and the Jaquan Jones arraignment that morning went smoothly. Not that Rafael was remotely worried. It _was_ just arraignment.

He didn't have any other arraignments that morning, and no motions court, so he headed back to his office to deal with some things and wait for another case to inevitably come across his desk.

The morning was rather quiet, and he was doing some work on the laptop when he finally heard a knock on the door. Rafael glanced up. "Come in.

He was more than a little surprised to see Ivy Bucci standing in the doorway, and was slightly concerned that the girl had might have gotten herself into some trouble again.

"Sorry, but you did tell me to let her in if she ever needed to see you," his assistant immediately said, not sure how Rafael was going to react.

"It's quite alright, Carmen," he said, waving the concern off. As his assistant made her way back out of the office he turned towards the teenage girl standing there. "Ivy, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I got a summer job as a barista at the Starbucks nearby," the teenager explained. "I just got off work and thought I'd... I don't know. I guess I just wanted to show you I was serious about getting my act together. I'm going to meetings, doing what I'm supposed to."

He gave her a small smile. "I'm glad," he said, standing up and walking a bit towards Ivy. "How's the new job going?"

"I actually like it," the girl replied. "Today was only my second shift, but my coworkers are pretty nice and I actually feel good about doing it, you know?"

He dipped his head slightly. "Then keep doing what you're doing," he advised the girl encouragingly. "Keep taking advantage of the support and resources you have and set a good example for your younger sister."

They continued chatting for a few minutes and then Rafael walked her down to where her mother was picking her up.

Once he was sure Ivy was safely headed home, he made his way back up to his office, cracking open a law book and sitting down to read.

Eventually, he got a call asking him to come down to the precinct and was immediately debriefed on the latest mess.

"Sean Townsend, thirty-one," Rollins explained. "He was driving a sixteen-year-old girl, Erica McCormack, home from a friend's birthday party in Long Island."

He nodded curtly.

"Now, Erica says she wasn't in the car long when he cancelled her route and started driving in a different direction altogether, Rollins explained. "Erica also says that Townsend tried to get her to go drinking with him, and to get her to go back to his home in Brooklyn."

"Where he no doubt intended to sexually assault her," Fin chimed in. "Classic drug and rape. He wanted her intoxicated."

Rafael gave Fin a look. "Did he say anything explicitly to her regarding sex?"

"A couple of subtle suggestions," Rollins said. "He wasn't overt, but it really doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out."

He nodded. "Fill me in on the rest?"

Rollins gave him a half-nod. "So, Erica refused to go with Townsend and tried to get him to take her home. She managed to eventually convince Townsend to pull over at a nearby McDonalds so she could go to the bathroom."

"This girl's smart," Tamin said. "I was impressed."

"As was I," Carisi agreed.

He nodded sagely. "Definitely smart thinking on her part."

"Great," he said with a sigh. "Well, I'll get him arraigned in the morning for the attempted rape, and this should be enough to get you warrants for both his phone and computer."

"Perfect," Olivia said.

"Anyway," Rollins continued, "once inside, Erica ran into the bathroom and called the police. Fin and I caught the shift as we were working the late shift last night."

"Okay," he said, wracking his brain some. "Did you get anything from Townsend?"

Fin gave a little snort. "Nah, just the usual bullshit, man."

"Okay," he stated, playing with his face some. "Did Erica have a cell phone on her? Any other means of asking for help?"

"Yes, she had her phone," Olivia said, "but that doesn't mean anything as far as her credibility goes."

"The defence is going to try and discredit her," Rafael pointed out. "They will say that there is more to the case than what the district attorney is claiming."

"Don't they always?" Tamin deadpanned.

"Playing the devil's advocate," he said with a vague gesture. "Factually, Erica had her phone the entire time. She had ample opportunity to roll down the window and yell, or open the car door and get out. The defence will use it to trip her up. Can she handle it?"

"She's strong," Rollins said, "and, in my opinion, credible."

"Good," he said. "Has anyone contacted Uber?"

"Yes," Fin said. "They took down his profile this morning and said, and I quote, _`What has been reported is deeply alarming. We stand ready to cooperate with law enforcement.'"_

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's something, at least." He glanced between all of the detectives. "Vet Townsend thoroughly _and_ get to know the girl better. No surprises."

They all nodded, and Olivia got his attention. "Counsellor, walk you out?"

"Sure," he replied, shooting her a warm smile. "How did the meeting with Dodds go?"

She chuckled. "The usual. That man keeps me on my toes. He's definitely an interesting guy to work for."

Rafael laughed. "Preaching to the choir. Jack McCoy is a very good man, but also a royal pain in the ass to work for on occasion."

Olivia gave a little snort. "They have the same black and white idea of justice."

He nodded. "Ain't that the truth."

Leaving SVU, Rafael was able to get an arraignment hearing for Sean Townsend first thing the following morning. The rest of the afternoon was rather calm, thankfully, and Rafael was able to leave and get Noah from his friend's house for half-past five o'clock that evening.

Once home, he spent some time chatting with Noah and Lucy, played with the kids for a few minutes, and then put Sofía in her playpen with some toys - having set it up in the kitchen, let Noah put on a cartoon and started preparing dinner.

He was busy cooking when Noah rather noisily came into the kitchen, clearly wanting Rafael's attention. "Papi, ¿podemos ir de compras esta semana por el regalo de cumpleaños?" (Papi, can we go shopping this week for the birthday present?)

He turned to briefly face his son while he talked to Noah. "¿Por qué no lo dejamos p'al proximo fin de semana, Mijo?" he suggested. Noah was growing quite fast and the boy really did need to get a new pair of shoes sooner rather than later. They were already planning on going shopping then, so they might as well buy the birthday present for Noah's friend Matteo at the same time. "De esa manera, también podemos comprarle un nuevo par de tenis." (Why don't we leave it for the coming weekend, Mijo. That way, we can buy you a new pair of runners as well.)

"Está bien," Noah said, satisfied by the answer. (Alright.)

He took down a few plates and things from the cupboards before gesturing in the direction of the kitchen table. "¿Puedes por favor poner la mesa?" (Can you please set the table?)

With Noah busy doing that for a few minutes, Rafael finished cooking. He'd made picadillo with white rice and black beans.

He put the dishes on the table, covered, obviously, and texted Olivia to confirm what time she was coming home. He smiled when he got the text back informing him that she was on her way. A calm night together as a family was really needed.


	160. Chapter 160

Townsend was arraigned Tuesday and charged with kidnapping in the second degree, kidnapping in the second degree as a sexually motivated felony, as well as several other charges. The judge granted bail at $150,000 bond or $75,000 cash.

Rafael would've preferred remand, but Townsend really wasn't likely to make bail anyway, so Rafael didn't worry about it too much.

As for the rest of the week, he was in court every day for a felony sexual assault trial that had more than a few issues. It had gone through motion after motion and was deliberately dragged out by Buchanan.

Most of Thursday and Friday the jury kept popping out to say they were deadlocked and Rafael was rather antsy when he was called back to court to hear the jury's verdict that Friday evening.

Two twenty-one-year-old men had raped and brutalized a young woman they knew from university. They were 'popular' and showed no remorse. A lot of people at the school were on the men's side and there was a lot of victim-blaming going on. It was a mess and absolutely disgusting in Rafael's opinion. The boys, and the school, had done everything they could to decimate Stephanie's reputation.

"You have a verdict?" Judge Blake asked.

"We have, Your Honour," the jury forewoman said. Rafael inhaled deeply while he listened to the verdict being read. "On the charges of rape and sodomy in the first degree, we find the defendants, Noel Krieser and Brandon Watson, not guilty.

Rafael swallowed the bile in his throat as he listened to the judge speak. "Mr. Watson and Mr. Krieser, you are free to go," the judge stated. Judge Blake then glanced at the jury. "The State of New York thanks the jury for their service."

Head bowed slightly and with anger and disgust coursing through his veins, he left the courtroom. He quickly ran into Olivia who had sat in on the verdict.

"This case was brutal," his wife said with a sigh.

He snorted at that. "We got destroyed." He knew he should head back to his office and get everything together for an appeal, but his head was spinning. He was quite simply too angry to think straight and wasn't in the mood to work. He needed a drink or two. "Let's get home. I need to shower the filth off."

His wife winced slightly but then gave him a more comforting look. "It's not your fault. You did your job, Rafa."

Now it was his turn to heave a sigh. "I know."

"Come on," she said, putting a comforting hand in his shoulder, "let's get out of here."

Rafael hadn't been in the best mood when he got home, but Olivia and Lucy distracted the kids while Rafael had a long, hot, shower. He really did feel dirty.

Once he got out of the shower, he threw on a light grey t-shirt and a pair of jeans and headed back downstairs to play with the kids, which ended up being way more therapeutic than he had expected. There was just something about the rather contagious joy from both the kids that just made things not seem as bad.

Olivia decided that it was a good night as any for spaghetti night, so they had that for dinner and then watched a movie together before it was Sofía's bedtime, ending the night with board games and some junk food.

Waking up on Saturday, Rafael, thankfully, felt much better than he had the day before. Getting dressed, he headed downstairs to where Olivia was making everyone breakfast. The house already smelled of bacon and eggs.

Smiling, he gave Olivia a quick kiss. "Breakfast smells good." With a smirk, he picked up a piece of bacon off the plate by the stove and took a bite. "Yummy."

She swatted him playfully. "Wait or no more bacon for you, Mister."

He pouted. "Now that's just cruel.

She rolled her eyes. "You'll live."

Eventually, they all sat down together for breakfast and started chatting amicably in between bites of food.

It was nice until Olivia got called into work. Noah and Rafael kissed her goodbye, Olivia gave Sofía a quick kiss, and then the police captain made her way out the door and down to the precinct.

With it then just the three of them, Rafael took the kids outside to play in the backyard for a bit. Rafael then brought out some things for crafts and set them on the kitchen table. Mostly for Noah, but he did bring out some coloured paper for Sofía so that she could paint with water - something a little less messy.

As for Noah, Rafael suggested a few different ideas and they ended up making a tornado in a jar, which the boy loved. It really _was_ neat, and honestly, quite simple to do as well. After that, they made some gecko keychains out of beads. Rafael made a small red and black one and Noah made a larger light blue and light green one. That had honestly been a bit more trial and error than the tornado if Rafael was being honest, but they both enjoyed themselves and Sofía was, thankfully, still more than a little entertained by what Rafael had her doing. He just kept giving her new paper in different colours and she just went to town on it.

They then put the craft stuff away, put the thirteen-month-old in her highchair with some cut up fruit to eat. Noah then went to play with his lego in the living room, while Rafael started on lunch. He was making white rice with fried eggs and fried sweet plantains. Rafael had also gotten his hands on some fresh mamey, which he wouldn't be able to do much longer as the season was coming to an end, so he was also making Noah and himself mamey smoothies.

Noah came in to set the table and immediately grinned up at Rafael when he saw what Rafael had made them. "¿Batidos de mamey?" (Mamey smoothies?)

A small smile on his lips, he gave a little hum in response to his son's quick remark. "Pensé que merecíamos un regalito, pero si no lo quieres..." (I thought we deserved a little something, but if you don't want it...)

Noah shot him a look. "¡No, lo quiero!" (No, I want it!)

He chuckled. "¿Por qué no dijiste eso entonces?" (Why didn't you say that then?)

His son immediately rolled his eyes in response, simply causing Rafael to smile back at the boy, eyes sparkling with mirth.

After lunch, he corralled both the kids into the living room and let them watch a cartoon on Netflix - in Spanish - while he tidied up from lunch and got some laundry and other stuff done around the house.

Once that was done, he turned off the TV and, given how nice it was out, decided to take the kids to the park.

He was helping Sofía go down the smaller slide when Noah called out to him, quickly getting Rafael's attention before he ran to the other side of the playground to do the monkey bars there.

Picking Sofía up, he walked towards Noah who was rather proud of how well he had done, immediately going again to show Rafael how good he was at it.

Noah was going down one of the bigger slides when a woman approached Rafael. He furrowed his brow as he waited for the woman to speak.

"Go home!" the woman yelled. "Why don't you go back home to the Island before you ruin this country like you ruined your own?" Rafael's jaw immediately clenched. "And since you're here, speak English. This is America. We speak English here."

Rafael stood there, chin up, chest out, and shoulders back. He was contemplating simply walking away, but he was definitely irritated. And the fact that it was happening in front of his kids, Noah now watching the interaction... unacceptable. "Ma'am we do speak English, but I can speak whatever language I want in a _private_ conversation with _my_ children. That has absolutely nothing to do with you." He bit back the retort that he wasn't Puerto Rican, opting to pick his battles.

The woman crossed her arms. "You Latinos are all so lazy, refusing to assimilate." He pursed his lips. "We speak English here. Not Spanish."

"Leave us alone," he sneered, "and go mind your own business." Noah, who had now come over and latched into Rafael's hip, was wide-eyed and clearly distressed by what was currently going on. He glanced at his son, cutting the woman off. "Vamos, Mijo. ¿Quieres ir a los columpios? ¿O tal vez ir a tomar un helado?" He wanted to give the boy an out if he wanted to leave as he could tell the boy was upset. (Come on, Mijo. Do you want to go on the swings? Or maybe go get some ice-cream?)

The young boy swiftly nodded. "Quiero helado, por favor." (I want ice-cream, please.)

Irritated with the woman for ruining his son's day, he smiled and nodded to Noah, leading him across the park towards where he knew there was an ice-cream shop, not surprised when Noah meekly started asking questions like 'Why was she so mean?' 'Why doesn't she like us?' and 'What's wrong with speaking Spanish?'

He answered Noah's questions as best as he could, trying not to villainize anyone, more than glad when the conversation finally turned to something lighter and Noah was acting more like his normal, bubbly, self.


	161. Chapter 161

After getting their ice-cream cones, they headed to another busy playground nearby and Noah ran off to play with Jeremy, a kid Noah had gone to school with since kindergarten, who was also there along with another kid that Noah had just met, the boy's inviting Noah to play with them. Sofía was fast asleep in her stroller, so Rafael just sat on one of the benches off to the side where he could see Noah but, thankfully, had some shade as well.

A woman sat down beside him after two boys who were presumably her sons ran off to play with another kid that the young boys clearly recognized.

The redheaded woman turned to face him, smiling warmly. "Aw. How old is she?"

He returned the smile. "She's thirteen months."

She nodded and then gestured towards the playground. "Which one's yours?"

He pointed over towards where his son was. "The taller brunette one who just jumped off the merry-go-round."

The woman chuckled. "Well, you've certainly got your hands full."

He gave a little amused hum at the comment. "They definitely keep us busy, but we wouldn't have it any other way. I already think they're growing up way too fast."

She nodded. "I hear you there. It seems like just yesterday that my oldest was born. The time certainly flies."

He gave another little hum at that before turning his attention fully back to Noah for a moment. He wanted to make sure that his son was okay. The boy waved, grinning happily as he ran towards the bigger slide. Satisfied Noah was safe, he checked on Sofía to see if the little girl was still asleep. She was starting to stir, so Rafael figured she'd be up before long.

He chatted with the woman some more; mostly making small talk, something that Rafael wasn't a huge fan of. Once Sofía was finally wide away he gave her a little snack and took her to the smaller slide, playing with his daughter yet doing his best to keep a close eye on Noah.

It was half an hour later when they finally left the park. They needed some things, so they stopped by the store, but then they went home for the rest of the afternoon

Trying to get the groceries and such put away wasn't an easy task with a one-year-old underfoot, but Rafael was getting better at it, and, thankfully, Noah stepped up and was a huge help.

Rafael mouthed a 'thank you' to his son as the boy took his little sister into the living room to play while he finished putting things away and started getting everything ready for dinner. He was making papas rellenas with rice and black beans.

He was cleaning up his mess from cooking when he heard the tell-tale sound of his wife getting home from work. He smiled to himself, drying his hands off and making his way out of the kitchen to where Noah was animatedly talking to Olivia.

"Hey." He gave his wife a quick kiss.

"Hey to you too," she said with a small smile. "I hear you guys had a busy day?"

He gave a little snort. "That's one way to put it, but, overall, I'd say we had a pretty good day." He smirked. "Smoothies and ice cream; you can't go wrong."

She eyed him, feigning offence. "And you didn't save me any? How rude!"

He chuckled softly. "There's some ice cream in the freezer, but you're on your own with the smoothy part." He kissed her on the forehead. "Next time."

Her lips quirked upwards slightly as she adjusted her hold on Sofía. "I think I can live with that." She visibly sniffed the air. "Dinner smells really good, by the way, and I was already starving before I walked in."

He shook his head in amusement. "Well, you're in luck, Cariño. Dinner's ready."

"Always with the frijoles," Noah deadpanned.

"Alas," Rafael said dramatically, "one can not subsist on pizza alone."

Noah rolled his eyes. He didn't need to know what subsist meant to get the general idea of what Rafael had said. "Okay, we don't need to go that far." The boy gave him a pointed yet good-natured look. "Who would eat all of the papas rellenas then?"

Rafael smirked right back. "Ha! Like I would ever let those go to waste."

"True," Noah replied with a snicker.

"Boys," Olivia quipped with a shake of the head.

They sat down for dinner, chatted some more, and then Olivia put Sofía down for the night. They then played a couple of rounds of _Hedbanz_ and a couple of _Go Fish _before it was time to send Noah to bed.

Once Noah was in bed, the couple now having some time to themselves, made their way to the living room to watch some TV. The pair chatted about some random stuff, both of them only paying vague attention to what was playing on TV, but eventually, Olivia broached the subject of work. Rafael hadn't been all that surprised as he could tell within minutes of his wife coming home that she was a bit bothered by whatever had happened at work. Regardless of how good at compartmentalizing she was.

Olivia sighed. "The press is going to have a field day with the case we caught today.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? That bad?"

She gave him a funny look before she launched into explaining what had gotten her called into work earlier that day.

Apparently, a Manhattan man, Blair Crawford, had been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman. He'd been released from Rikers Island early over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus behind bars. And wasn't the only one. The forty-seven-year-old man had been incarcerated on a separate rape charge when he was released due to the pandemic they'd been in the middle of at the time and had apparently not been deterred from doing it again.

She'd gone on to explain that the NYPD had initially responded to a 911 call at about 5:45 a.m. in Manhattan's Park Slope neighbourhood. The caller had told police that a man had been walking across the street from a supportive housing development when the man allegedly grabbed a forty-three-year-old woman - who to all appearances didn't know her attacker - by the collar, pulling her into a school parking lot.

The woman told officers that the man forced her to perform oral sex and demanded that she remove her pants before she was able to kick away from him.

"She was transported to a hospital?" Rafael inquired.

Olivia nodded. "Yes. Almost immediately."

He dipped his head slightly. "Okay. So, she's safe and taken care of and the rest of the mess can wait until Monday morning?"

Olivia conceded his point. "I suppose."

He leaned in and softly kissed Olivia on the forehead. "Don't dwell on it, mi amor. You'll only drive yourself crazy."

She gave a little hum before pulling him in for a kiss. The kiss was all taking. Like she was drawing something out of him. He brought her fingers up to her hair, deepening the kiss.

When their lips parted, his wife eyed him. "What would I do without you?"

He gave her a soft smile, squeezing her hand. "Just what you usually do."


	162. Chapter 162

Sunday was definitely an improvement on the day prior. They woke up, Olivia made them bacon, eggs, and toast, and headed to Mass. His mother wasn't feeling particularly well, so after Rafael checked in on her over the phone they headed to the store, bought Noah some new shoes, got the birthday gift for his friend, and then headed home for an easy, and somewhat early, lunch.

"Papi, puedo ver un programa antes del almuerzo?" Noah asked as he popped his head out the patio door where Rafael was busy barbecuing some burgers. (Papi, can I watch a show before lunch?)

"No ahora," he quickly replied, not giving the question much thought. It was nice out, and the kid didn't need to be in front of a screen all afternoon. "¿Por qué no vas a jugar en el jardín?" (Not right now. Why don't you go play in the yard?)

Noah grumbled something under his breath.

Rafael quirked an eyebrow. "¿Qué fue eso?" (What was that?)

"Dije que voy a buscar mis tenis," Noah replied without missing beat and immediately running back inside. (I said that I'm going to get my runners.)

He shook his head slightly. His son had clearly decided that repeating what he'd just said would get him in trouble. Rafael wasn't born yesterday. That was definitely not even close to what his son had said mere moments prior, but he decided to let it slide as Noah's tone afterward had been civil enough. "Está bien." (Alright.)

It didn't take long before, shoes on, his son came running back through the house and back out the patio doors.

"Kicked him outside?" Olivia asked with a knowing look when she came outside a moment later, Sofía clinging to her.

"Yupp," he said, stepping forward to give both his girls a quick kiss.

"It is nice out," she agreed. "I have no idea why he wants to be inside."

He gave a little snort. "That's what I thought." He gave his wife a thoughtful look. "Want to eat lunch at the patio table?"

Olivia clearly liked the idea. "Sure."

Their daughter chose then to hold her arms up. "Papá."

Smiling, he caressed the little girl's head before turning back to what he was doing. Once he got the burgers off the bbq a few minutes later, he turned his attention back to his wife and daughter. "Ven acá, princesa." (Come here, princess.)

The little girl snuggled with him for a moment before starting to squirm and making it clear she wanted down. Olivia played with her for a few minutes while Rafael finished making the salad and cutting up some watermelon.

He dished out lunch for everyone and they all sat down for lunch. Noah was telling them a funny story about something that happened during a playdate that he'd had not too long ago when the boy glanced at Sofía before turning to face them. "So when do we go to family court for the adoption again?"

"In two days," Olivia told the young boy with a grin.

He caressed Sofía's head gently. "Tuesday this little girl will officially be your sister."

Noah gave them an inquisitive look. "¿Cuál será su nombre? Are you guys going to change Sof's name like you did mine?"

"Yes," Olivia immediately confirmed, a smile still plastered firmly on her face. "She'll be taking the same last name as you. And a middle name."

"What middle name?" Noah inquired, taking another bite of food.

"Angélica," Rafael said after a brief moment. "Your mother and I both really like it."

Their son tried the name out and glanced between them. "It's pretty."

Olivia chuckled. "Glad you approve." She then wiped some of the mess of Sofïa's face and got up to go cut up some banana for the little girl as she'd already finished the meat she'd been given.

They all continued chatting amicably over lunch, and once that was done Rafael cleaned up while Olivia changed Sofía and put her down for a nap.

Olivia soon joined them outside, baby monitor receiver in hand, and the three of them played wiffleball until the Carisi-Rollins clan joined them.

Noah apparently wasted little time in asking if Jesse if she wanted to play in the sprinkler. The women were chatting quickly in another room about something or other, so Jesse came running up to Rafael and her stepfather. "Papà, dov'è il mio costume da bagno? Io e Noah vogliamo giocare nel... uhm, sprinkler."

_"Nell'irrigatore,"_ Carisi gently corrected. The girl nodded before enthusiastically trying the new word out. "La tua borsa dovrebbe essere vicino alla porta principale, la mia topolina," the blond continued, eying his stepdaughter affectionately as he spoke to her. "Check by the front door, Kiddo."

Rafael watched the interaction, more than a little amused. He could catch the odd word, but he comically found himself on the other, rather rare, end of not being able to follow a conversation.

"Va bene! Grazie papà!" the girl said with a smile before excitedly running off to where Noah was before the pair ran inside the house.

Carisi quickly gave him a small recap of the conversation, explaining that the kids wanted to play in the sprinkler.

Rafael eyed the blond. "So, the Italian's coming along nicely, I see?"

"Yeah." The other man looked extremely proud, and Rafael could understand why perfectly. "There's still a long way to go, but last week she started going to this Italian language summer camp during the day, and she's already learned a lot."

"We did the same with Noah," Rafael said with a smirk. "When it works, it works. Educational _and_ fun."

Carisi chuckled. "Exactly." He adopted a more serious look as he continued to speak. "I've been teaching her and Billie for a while now, but they haven't been getting as much exposure as they maybe should. It's hard teaching them."

"It is," Rafael agreed, "but stick with it." He made a vague gesture. "Thankfully, there's no shortage of ways to expose the kids to Spanish here. That helps. I can imagine Italian is a bit more complicated in that regard."

"I find myself looking up words I haven't used in ages," the man said with a laugh, "so my Italian is improving as well. I am glad we found the day camp, though. And there's my family, of course, but we only see them for a few hours a week, if that."

Rafael smiled. "Just hang in there. Once the language really clicks, the little chatterboxes won't shut up. And it seems like she's well on her way. Billie is way younger, so that's on your side there."

Carisi grinned, chuckling lightly. "Funnily enough, I can't wait."

"So, how are you guys liking the new place?" Rafael inquired. The couple had recently moved into their new home, and, after more than a few hectic days, they managed to get almost entirely unpacked. Rafael had no idea where they'd found the time, frankly.

"Good," Carisi said. His eyes then lit up. "Oh, our home study was finally done! The caseworker said I passed, so we're just waiting to get a finalization hearing now. Everything else has already been dealt with."

"That's fantastic, Sonny!" Rafael said with a grin. "Then it looks like you're going to become a father of two soon."

Carisi laughed. "Just playing catch up, Rafael."

He shook his head, amused. "I can't wait until Tuesday, honestly. This past year has been great, but the fear that a relative could take her away was always there, you know. And we've been waiting for this hearing for ages."

"Well, she's one lucky little girl," Sonny said earnestly. "Even if her parents are a little on the eccentric side."

He gave a little snort. "Have you looked in the mirror?"

The other man chuckled. "Touché."

"What are ya'll getting up to over here?" Rollins quipped, as she walked over, nineteen-month-old Bille in hand. Rafael figured the little girl had probably already had a nap before the family came over.

"Up to no good, are we?" Olivia chimed in, clearly teasing.

"Clearly," Rafael drawled. "Sofía still asleep?"

"Yupp," Olivia confirmed. "So, Amanda and I were actually talking about maybe going to Coney Island next weekend?

"Sure," Rafael said, "if you guys want to."

"I'm in," Carisi said.

"Okay then," Olivia said with a smile. "Oh, you can still pick him up from the birthday party on Friday, right, love?"

"I should be able to," he said. "No meetings scheduled or court that afternoon." He knocked on the patio table. "Knock on wood."

The kids then completely caught Rafael's attention when Noah, talking much to sweetly, tried to give him a hug.

"Oh no, you don't!" Rafael said with a laugh, backing up slightly. "Keep your cold, wet, little hands to yourself, son of mine."

"But I love you," Noah said with a hug, running up to him and throwing his arms around him, getting Rafael's shirt wet.

"AY!" he said with a laugh. He then started chasing Noah, causing the boy to squeal and laugh when Rafael successfully got ahold of him and started tickling him.

Crazy kid. He loved that cheeky brat.


	163. Chapter 163

Monday morning dawned much sooner than he would've liked, but forcing himself to get out of bed, he, rather groggily, got ready for work.

He had breakfast with his family and then had to head to work early as he had some things he had to deal with before court. Thankfully, the Crawford arraignment hearing went about as well as Rafael could hope.

Rafael quickly closed his files as the bailiff spoke. "People vs. Blair Crawford."

The judge looked over at the defendant and defence attorney. "So, on the charges of rape in the third and criminal act in the first, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty, Your Honour," the defence attorney, Carolyn Maddox, said without preamble. "This is all a big misunderstanding and, frankly, it is beyond prejudicial on the prosecution's part."

Rafael gave a little snort at that. This wasn't some misunderstanding. "There are witnesses, Your Honour, and Mr. Crawford has already been convicted of a prior rape. He has no compunction about lying or hurting women. Given the violent nature of his assault as well as his propensity to re-offend, we request bail at $100,000."

"Granted," the judge said, hitting the gavel. "Next case."

With no more arraignments that particular morning, he closed his files and hurriedly made his way out the door. He'd had just enough time after arraignment first thing to make it to the Townsend trial, but he'd really been pushing his luck.

The first half of court could have gone a bit smoother, but an ADA learned quickly to roll with the punches, and he'd had way worse hiccups over the years. He had a solid case and had gone over a couple of summations he might use numerous times, knowing full well that closing arguments were his last chance to solidify or gain any jurors. He'd done what he could and was glad when it was in the jury's hands.

He'd been in court all day, naturally, but, thankfully, this trial was a shorter one, and by three o'clock that afternoon the jury was finally dismissed for deliberations.

Rafael ended up having to stay in the vicinity until the jury was dismissed for the night, still no verdict found, so ended up home slightly later, making him rather late for dinner. He did, however, end up pleading out the Jaquan Jones, although the paperwork for the deal still had to be finalized. Besides that, however, most of his time waiting for the jury to come back was him playing sudoku and texting people.

_'¿A qué hora nos quieres en tu casa mañana?' (What time do you want us at your place tomorrow?)_

Shaking his head, he texted Eddie back. He opted to tell Eddie to come over slightly early so that they might actually show up at a decent time. Latin time; it was a real thing._ 'A las cinco y media de la tarde.'_ _(At half-past five.)_

Rafael's cellphone vibrated a short moment later. _'Ok, Hermano. Estaremos ahí.' (Okay, brother. We'll be there.)_

He quickly typed a reply. _'¡Hasta mañana!' (See you tomorrow!)_

And as for his family, Olivia had ended up making chicken alfredo for them which was easy enough for him to reheat when he got home, so that was fine. Sofía was fast asleep, but Noah was still awake and had some time before bed, as they were being a bit more flexible with his bedtime given it was summer, so they'd played a board game together as a family before finally sending him off to bed.

Tuesday was just as hectic as the day before but in a good way. Rafael had arraignment for someone who'd been brought into custody the day prior while he'd been in court for the trial.

"Your Honour," Rafael swiftly explained to the judge as court proceedings started, "Mr. Montgomery has confessed. He was also IDed in a lineup."

The judge nodded and then glanced at the defendant. "How do you plead?"

"Not guilty, Your Honour," the defence attorney, Cleo Conrad, said. "Although, we are discussing a plea of forcible touching with the DA."

"Not the time or place," the judge pointed out. "People on bail?"

"We request $50,000," Rafael requested.

"Granted," the judge said, hitting the gavel. "Next case."

Feeling pleased that things were going smoothly, he closed his files and headed to his office to wait for news regarding the Townsend trial. He wasn't overly worried as Erica had handled herself rather well and the defendant was far from charming.

He worked on some of the files on his desk before eventually heading down the street to quickly grab something to eat from one of the food carts nearby.

He'd only been back in his office for little under an hour when he got called into court regarding his case.

"You have a verdict?" Judge Blake prodded.

"We have, Your Honour," the jury forewoman confirmed. She glanced down at the paper She was holding in her hands. "On the count of attempted rape, we find the defendant, Sean Townsend, guilty." Some of the tension left him as he heard that. He'd won the case. "On the count of First-degree Kidnapping," the forewoman continued, "we find the defendant guilty."

Feeling a sense of pride, and slight relief, he quickly gathered his things and headed out the courtroom doors and heading outside to grab a quick lunch.

He tried to get as much done as possible over the next couple of hours, but couldn't help almost running from the building when it came time to head to family court to finalize their adoption of Sofía.

"Good afternoon," Judge Linden said. "Have a seat." She glanced between the members of the little family that they'd built. "How are you all doing?"

Olivia replied before Rafael got the chance. "Doing very well, thanks."

Noah was fidgeting in his seat. "Happy and excited."

The judge grinned. "I can see that." She chuckled as Sofía started squirming and trying to grab some of the things on the desk. "Someone's got a lot of energy."

Rafael gave the judge a warm smile as he spoke. "Yeah, she does. Sof definitely keeps us on our toes, in the best way."

Judge Linden chuckled. "Mobile and curious; it's a fun age. So, you guys are very familiar with the process. Today we're going to go over the paperwork and I'll be asking you some questions," the judge said by way of explanation. What we're going to sign is the adoption agreement, which as she is not fourteen or older, she does not need to sign." The judge pulled out several papers and placed them in front of both Olivia and Rafael. "And if you're in agreement, please sign these. And date it."

Rafael and Olivia both eagerly did as asked before passing the newly signed documents back to the judge to look over. Sofía tried to help Olivia, which was super adorable. He had to chuckle as Olivia tried to coax Sofía into letting go of the pen. Noah was fidgeting slightly, but was fairly quiet, thankfully.

"Thank you," Judge Linden said as she took the paperwork from them.

They continued going over paperwork a bit longer, and then the judge started firing the usual questions off at them. Finally, there as only one more thing to do. "So, it looks like everything's in order," the family court judge said. "I want to thank you for being foster parents. We can't do our jobs unless people like you are willing to step forward, open up your home, and give a child unconditional love... not knowing whether or not you're going to be able to adopt the child in the long run. So, thank you so much, and I'm really happy for you to have this outcome." Olivia had a watery smile on her face and Rafael wasn't far off from the same at hearing the judge's words. "The next thing we're going to do is the adoption order. For the record, I've reviewed the file and believe that it is in Sofía's best interest to be adopted by both of you."

There was definitely a lump in Rafael's throat now.

"You've been wonderful foster-adopt parents," Judge Linden continued. "So, by signing this document I hear-by declare you now parent and child under the law with all the rights and duties of the parent-child relationship, but most importantly all of the joys."

Olivia gave a happy little hum, hugging Sofía tightly. Rafael put his arm around them as well, nose scrunching with contentment as he looked at the green-eyed little girl.

The judge shook Olivia and Rafael's hands, saying, "Congratulations." When she got to Noah she did the same thing before adding, "How does it feel to be a big brother, young man?"

"Great!" Noah exclaimed with a grin.

The judge gave Noah a warm smile and then leaned forward, looking at Sofía with the warm smile still on her face. "And congratulations to you too Sofía Barba-Benson." Sitting up straight in her seat, the judge glanced between all of them. "It's official, so let's go get some congratulatory pictures."

"Congratulations you two," Fin said.

Eddie, who had only gotten there a couple of minutes earlier, shook Olivia's hand and pulled Rafael in for a hug. "Congratulations."

"Yeah," Carisi echoed, gently bouncing Sofía in her arms as he spoke. "This is one lucky little girl right here."

"Yeah, she is!" Rollins agreed.

"Thanks," Rafael said, before glancing at Olivia and back at them. "We're both thrilled that it's finally official."

"It's been a crazy year," Olivia agreed, "but so worth it. And hearing Judge Linden make it official today... It was awesome."

"He's been much too chipper at work lately," Rita said in jest.

"He has been in a rather good mood," Carmen said with a chuckle, "but I prefer him that way. It makes him easier to bug."

Rafael gave a little snort. "Why do I keep you around?"

"Hey!" Carmen said with a loud laugh. "All I said was that you being chipper isn't the worst thing in the world."

He rolled his eyes.

Rafael's mother decided to chime in, grinning widely. "I can't believe I officially have two grandkids. There was a day when I expected to get zero."

Rafael let out a laugh. "Mami!"

The Barba matriarch just laughed. "What?" She glanced between both Olivia and Rafael. "I really am happy for you."

Rafael rolled his eyes, not for the first or last time that evening, while Olivia watched them in amusement. "Thank you, Lucía."

The kids were playing in another room, so the adults continued to chat, Munch, Cragen, and Tamin joining them not much later.

The conversation was light and they all enjoyed themselves. Everyone was killing themselves laughing at him, however, when he was jokingly asked if they were going to adopt a third time.

Olivia and himself had discussed it and decided against, but, regardless, Rafael just thought of having two infants at the same time and dealing with Noah and immediately exclaimed, "Oh hell no!"

Despite the teasing he still occasionally got for having unequivocally turned into a 'family man' after being such an asshole workaholic for so long, Rafael genuinely couldn't have been happier. And when they all toasted to family towards the end of the night, Rafael couldn't keep the toothy grin off of his face.


	164. Chapter 164

As always, the Barba-Bensons were kept busy. Work was chaotic and they'd also had Cragen and Munch over for dinner. Before they knew it, almost two weeks had come and gone, and it was Noah's first day of school. The third grade. Rafael couldn't believe how fast the boy was growing up.

They had waffles for breakfast, double-checked Noah's schoolbag, and then chatted briefly with Lucy before finally making the short trip to Noah's school.

Noah was a little nervous, but when reminded that friends of his would be there too, he noticeably perked up.

Getting out of the car, they checked the class lists outside the main doors. It took some time, having to glance over several different lists.

"Aha!" Olivia said in triumph. "Looks like you're in Mrs. Brown's class this year." She pointed to were it read Noah Barba-Benson.

Noah scurried over to Olivia, Rafael making his way over to his wife as well. "Cool, Mrs. Brown is really nice."

"That's good then," Olivia said. "Oh, it looks like Mikey's not in your class this year." Noah pouted slightly at that. "But look," she pointed out. "Will and Jeremy are in your class, though, and you can see Mikey at recess."

"I guess," Noah muttered.

Rafael ruffled Noah's hair playfully. "Cheer up, Mijo. It looks like Blake is in your class too. You can show him the ropes, so to speak."

The seven-year-old boy smiled more fully now, and they started to make their way into the school, dropping Noah off at his new classroom.

They got Noah settled, had a quick conversation with Mrs. Brown - introducing themselves, and then it was time for both adults to leave and head to work.

Olivia kissed Noah and said goodbye, and then it was Rafael's turn. He kissed Noah on the forehead. "Te quiero. Que tengas un buen día." (I love you. Have a great day.)

The still slightly nervous boy pulled Rafael into a quick hug. "Yo también te quiero, papi. Te veo después de la escuela." (I love you too, Papi. See you after school.)

He'd promised Noah he'd take him out for some father-son time later as he'd been at the office working until at least ten o'clock almost every night for the past week.

"Te veo después de la escuela," he replied, a teasing lilt entering his voice as he spoke to his son. "No te metas en demasiados problemas." (See you after school. Don't get into too much trouble.)

Noah shot him a cheeky smile and then moved to pull Olivia in for one last hug and then Olivia and Rafael finally made their way out of the school and towards Olivia's car.

"He's growing up so fast," his wife commented

"I know, Cariño," he agreed. "Much too fast."

With the school drop-off done, Olivia dropped Rafael off at the house as he still had a twenty-minutes before he was had to leave for work.

He immediately gave his assistant a warm smile when he got off the elevator on his floor at One Hogan Place and spotted her at her desk. "Morning, Carmen."

"Good morning," she replied, returning the smile. "How did this morning go?"

"He was a little nervous about a new teacher and having different classmates," Rafael explained, "but it went fine. He likes the new teacher, so..." He gave a slight shrug.

"That's good then," Carmen said. "So, I did get a call from Kressler about rescheduling a meeting this morning. The changes are already synced with your phone."

He dipped his head slightly. "Thank you. I should probably get to work. I have a bunch of stuff to get done if I'm going to actually manage to leave early today."

"Good luck with that," she quipped.

He just gave a little snort before turning around and heading to his office to start dealing with some emails and managing some of the files waiting for him.

The first part of the morning, he was mostly left to himself. He bounced around between doing case prep work, checking in with his ADAs, talking to the District Attorney, and got in touch with the NYPD's Sex Offender Monitoring Unit.

All in all, it was a productive morning and he ended up texting Olivia to see if she was busy or would be able to grab lunch.

She was busy with a case her squad had caught and a meeting with Deputy Chief Dodds, but Rafael wasn't too upset, knowing he'd see her at home later. So, he threw himself into one of his law books, going over something for one of his pending cases, until Carmen knocked on his door and let him know she was leaving for lunch.

Following her lead, he made his way to Forlini's for something to eat. He dealt with a couple more work emails in between eating and the occasional back-and-forth with Anthony, before eventually finishing his meal and heading back to his office.

He managed to, thankfully, get some work done before a quarter after two came along and it was time for him to leave the office and go pick Noah up from school.

He took several files with him and shoved them into his glove box, making the twenty-minute drive to PS199 to get his son.

He finally spotted Noah in the courtyard and started making his way over to him. Noah seemed to be having a rather heated conversation with one of his classmates. Her name was Brooklyn if Rafael remembered correctly.

The discussion continued for a minute before his son spotted him and started running over to where Rafael was standing. "¡Hola, papi!" (Hi, Daddy!)

Rafael affectionately ruffled the boy's hair some while he replied. "Hola, Mijo. ¿Qué tal la escuela hoy?" (Hi, Mijo. How was school today?)

"Bien," his son replied. "Me gusta mi clase e hice un nuevo amigo durante el recreo." The boy seemed to consider something he wanted to say for a brief moment. "Pero Brooke no fue muy amable." (Fine. I like my class and I made a new friend during recess. But Brooke wasn't very nice.)

He tilted his head slightly. He had seen the earlier argument but was glad that Noah was bringing it up himself. "¿Oh? ¿Que pasó?" (Oh? What happened?)

Noah shot the girl a clearly displeased look before turning back to face Rafael. "Ella dijo algo realmente malo sobre un niño en nuestra clase llamado Deion a su amiga Sarah porque él es negro. Es malo y estúpido. Él es realmente agradable. No importa que se vea diferente." (She said something really mean about a boy in our class named Deion to her friend Sarah because he is black. It's mean and stupid. He is really nice. It doesn't matter if he looks different.)

Hands in his pockets, Rafael gave the boy a tight-lipped smile. He wanted to keep calm for Noah's sake. "Tienes razón," he said calmly, "no hay absolutamente nada de malo en ser negro, latino o algo así. A veces los niños están un poco confundidos y realmente no entienden lo que dicen. Simplemente esté allí para Deion y dígale a la maestra o a alguien si continúa. Hiciste lo correcto al defenderlo." (You're right, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being black, latin, or anything. Sometimes kids are just a little confused and don't really understand what they're saying. Just be there for Deion and tell the teacher or someone if it continues. You did the right thing by standing up for him.)

A woman who he assumed was Deion's mother came over with her son. She reached out to shake Rafael's hand. "Hi, I'm Aliyah Jones."

He dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Rafael Barba."

"My son Deion told me your boy stood up for him earlier," the woman said. "We wanted to come over and thank him."

"Yeah, thank you," Deion said with a happy yet shy smile on his lips.

"It's nothing," Noah assured Deion, giving the boy a small smile. "They were being meanies for no reason."

"Well," the woman said. "thank you, young man." She turned slightly towards Rafael. "Barba? That sounds Hispanic."

"It is," he said with a half-nod. "Cuban."

"Cool," the woman said. "We've got to go, but thanks again."

"See you tomorrow," Deion said.

Noah nodded enthusiastically. "See you tomorrow."

"I hope you guys have a good afternoon," the woman said.

"Thank you, and you as well," Rafael replied. As mother and son started to walk away, he turned to Noah. "Bueno, ¿adónde?" (So, where to?)

"¿Una merienda?" the boy eagerly suggested. (A snack?)

"Buena idea," Rafael agreed, ruffling the boy's hair. He immediately started wracking his brain over where they could go, settling on this place called _Tina's Cuban Cuisine_ that was on West 56th Street, only about eight minutes away. "¿Pastelitos y batidos? ¿Qué te parece?" (Good idea. Pastries and milkshakes? What do you think?)

The young boy looked up at him with a rather cheeky grin plastered on his face. "Buenísimo para la diabetes pero demasiado riquísimo para rechazarlo." (Great for diabetes but much too yummy to turn down.)

"Bueno, no estás equivocado," he immediately quipped back. "Apúrate entonces," he continued, chuckling slightly as he pointed in the general direction of where he'd parked earlier. "El carro está ahí." (Well, you're not wrong. Hurry up then. The car is right over there.)

Yes, Rafael was definitely looking forward to an entire afternoon with his son.


	165. Chapter 165

Rafael eyed his son from over the top of the newspaper that he'd been reading at the kitchen table while drinking coffee. Noah had spilled his drink and wiped it up without being asked, but had thrown the cloth, it then falling off the counter and onto the floor. "Recoge ese paño que arrojaste al piso, por favor." (Pick up that dishrag that you threw on the floor, please.)

Noah immediately adopted a sheepish look but, nonetheless, the seven-year-old quickly went to do as asked. "Lo siento," the boy said as he put the dishrag back up on the counter beside the sink where it belonged.

"Está bien," he assured his son before quickly finishing off his coffee. "Bueno, tu madre tiene que ir a trabajar temprano hoy. Ella tiene una reunión, así que hoy te llevaré a la escuela." The aforementioned woman was upstairs with their daughter but had to leave soon to get to a meeting with Deputy Chief Dodds first thing. (It's fine. So, your mother has to go to work early today. She has a meeting, so I am going to take you to school today.)

"¡Está bien!" the seven-year-old replied, seemingly unfazed. "¿Puedo tener otro durazno?" (Alright! Can I have another peach?)

"Tu mamá se comió el último," Rafael swiftly informed the young boy. Porridge with peaches and blueberries had been the go-to for breakfast this morning. "Intentaré comprar más después del trabajo." (Your mom ate the last one. I'll try and buy some more after work.)

Noah nodded, going back to quickly finishing his breakfast.

Rafael stood up to go put his coffee cup and plate in the dishwasher when there was a knock on the door and the telltale sign of Lucy walking in the door.

He put his dishes away and then talked briefly with Lucy before Olivia joined them downstairs, Sofía in hand, and it wasn't long after that when Olivia was getting ready to head out the door. She gave Rafael, Noah, and Sofía a kiss, before giving Lucy a hug. "See you guys later. Have a great day."

Rafael then watched as his wife walked out the door, heading to her precinct. He then chatted with Lucy for another brief moment before checking the time. Satisfied that both Sofía and Lucy were good to go, he turned to Noah. "Can you go get your shoes on, please? We should get going as well."

"Alright," Noah chirped, heading to wherever he'd left his runners the night before.

"And maybe a light sweater!" he called out.

"But I'll be too hot!" Noah immediately whined. "I'm already in a long sleeve! No quiero ponerme un suéter." (I don't want to put on a sweater.)

"Fine then," Rafael quickly caved. He couldn't blame the boy. With that in mind, Rafael started putting on his black dress shoes. It was hardly summer weather anymore, but it was still warm enough that Rafael was still opting for vests more days than not out of comfort. So, he was wearing a plain, white, dress shirt, and a grey plaid suit vest with the matching solid grey dress pants to go with it. He'd then gone with a darker, almost black, plaid tie to complete the set.

Once Rafael was ready, he didn't have to wait too much longer before the energetic seven-year-old came running back into the living room, ready to go. They then said goodbye to the girls and headed out to the car.

Rafael drooped Noah off at the West End Entrance of the school and stayed for a minute to make sure that his son safely entered the school before he left and made his way to the courthouse.

He had yet another hearing regarding a domestic violence case turned murder case. It had been an uphill battle to get the chance to talk with the only real witness they had. A nine-year-old boy.

The father, Joel Fortier, was a classic batterer. His own son was afraid of him and in all the time they'd talked it was always "my wife" and "my son." Never their names. He just saw them as possessions, property.

Mr. Fortier was being accused of not only raping his would-be ex-wife but causing her death through blunt force trauma during a physical altercation that had accused during or slightly after the assault.

The son knew _something_ but the so-called father blocked any and all efforts for the detectives to talk to the boy and find out what happened that night.

They'd known this mess was coming, however, so Olivia had helped Rafael get a few ducks in a row, namely one NYPD psychiatrist turned free-lance consultant. He'd spent a lot of time working in his study the night before, once the kids were both asleep, and part of that time had been a phone call with George Huang.

A child's mental health is at risk," Judge Shira Suarez said. "I'm ruling there be no further interviews of Tommy Fortier until after a full psychological examination.

"The people would ask that Dr. George Huang do the evaluation," Rafael said. "He's highly qualified and has worked with children and the department many times before."

The so-called father looked horrified. "Please, don't do this. You would be forcing my son to endure another interrogation."

"I highly doubt that," the judge retorted. She then eyed Rafael. "I agree with your request, Mr. Barba. The court will await Dr. Huang's evaluation."

"Alright," Rafael said, feeling rather pleased. "The people also ask that the child be put into foster care until after the evaluation is complete. Tommy Fortier is the only eyewitness to a homicide that may well have been committed by his father." He put up a hand to silence the defendant's objections. "Mr. Fortier's alibi for the time of the murder is shaky," he continued, "and his own son admitted to Mr. Fortier being in the home earlier that very evening, angry." He let that hang in the air for a brief moment. "There's a clear history of domestic violence here, Your Honour."

"That is a lie!" the defendant snapped. "I would never hurt Gwen."

"Gwen Fortier was an unstable woman making wild allegations because my client wanted a divorce," the defence attorney stated.

"There are several police reports that say otherwise," Rafael pointed out. "The history of domestic violence is clear."

The judge nodded, glancing between both parties. "So ordered." She adopted an even sterner look. "Tommy Fortier will be put into the care of Child Protective Services effective immediately. To be revisited once we get the results of Dr. Huang's evaluation." A wave of relief washed over Rafael as he heard the court order and the gavel fall. _At least the boy's safe now._

Leaving court, he grabbed a couple of snack items and coffee as he made his way back up to his office, where he threw himself into the massive series of emails and reports that he had waiting for him.

He worked almost straight through lunch, only stopping when Carmen showed up to make sure he at least ate something if not take an actual break. He quickly ate some of what he bought earlier and poured himself another coffee before throwing himself into his work again.

His afternoon wasn't any calmer. He'd had two meetings that afternoon on top of everything else he had to do and ended up getting multiple calls from the 1-6 regarding another domestic violence case they wanted him on. Specifically, they wanted to see if he could cut a deal, as they could already tell the wife couldn't handle taking the stand. The man still had a hold on her.

He was outside the interrogation room, chatting with Olivia, Fin, and Rollins when Carisi and Tamin came back from meeting with a witness.

They, naturally, quickly filled Carisi and Tamin in.

"A deal? What did you propose?" Tamin inquired.

"Something we can all live with," he said. "Put a clock on the offer. They have until nine o'clock tomorrow."

"Great," Tamin said. "What's the deal?"

Olivia sighed. "The usual for these types of cases. Believe me, the counsellor and I have had this particular conversation more than once."

"True," he agreed. They had. Multiple times over the years. "Anyway... Price pleads to assault. Five years. Suspended sentence. Community service."

"Hold on," Tamin said, "no jail time?"

"Well, we get a felony conviction," he said. "He does this again, he's a two-time loser." He eyed the officer. "Makes it easier to nail him next time."

Officer Tamin gave a little shrug. "I guess that's something."

"It's about as good as it gets if the vic won't testify," Carisi added. "The laws really need to improve in that area."

Both Olivia and Rafael gave the blond a little nod of agreement, but it was Fin who actually spoke. "You can say that again, Carisi."

"Stole the words right out of my mouth," Olivia quipped.

"Unfortunately that's easier said than done," Rollins said.

"Also true," he agreed.

He didn't stick around the precinct long after that as he had some stuff to do if he was ever going to get home at a decent hour.

He was more than glad to walk into the house at half-past six that evening. Music was playing in the background and he could hear the kids, and Olivia, giggling and messing around in the backyard.

He placed the groceries he'd just grabbed from the bodega on the counter and then made his way to the back door. Opening it, he was immediately greeted with a "Papi's home!" from Noah who started walking over to him while Sofía tried her best to keep up with her big brother's pace. "¡Papá!" the little girl squealed as she ran over.

Rafael had to grin when Sofía through her arms up in the air. "Papá."

Giving Noah a quick yet warm smile he scooped up the little girl. "¿Te portaste bien con mamá, mi princesita? (Did you behave for Mom, my little princess?)

The little girl nodded, proud.

"She has a knack for getting into things," Olivia said with a soft chuckle, "but you knew that. She was laughing super hard at something that happened early. I couldn't even begin to guess why, though."

He gave a happy little hum. "She definitely has a personality." Adjusting his hold on Sofía he went to give Olivia a quick kiss on the cheek. "How was the rest of your afternoon?"

"About as good as you'd expect," she quipped.

He gave a little snort. "Fair enough." He turned to Noah. "How about you? How was school? Still liking your class?"

"Yeah!" Noah said with a grin. "And I'm not the only Spanish-speaker either! This boy named Julián is in my class too. Only, he's from Spain, not Cuba. We didn't speak yesterday, but we got teamed up in p.e today. He has a very different accent, you know. His _gracias_ sounds like _grathias. _It's interesting."

"I'm sure he finds our accent just as uh... _interesting," _Rafael said with a slight chuckle. "Cubans _do_ have a tendency to eat a lot of our esses and dees when we speak; among other things." When they spoke, with their accent, a word such as _después_ was more or less pronounced like_ depué. _

_"_Yeah, he commented on that," Noah said with his own little laugh. "Anyway, he's super nice and we had a lot of fun at recess and lunch. Pero like some words are different too... he says _zumo_ instead of _jugo." _

"Sí," he said with a smile. "There are a few words like that." He wracked his brain for a second. "_Coche_ for _carro_... That's one example off the top of my head."

"That just makes me think of el cochecito de Sofía," Noah said with an amused grin. "Funny how it's the same word but different meaning." (Sofía's stroller)

He gave a little hum. "Agreed."

Olivia just rolled her eyes. "This is a family of nerds."

He gave Olivia an indulgent smile and, putting his squirming daughter down, ruffled his son's hair. "And proud of it." He put his hand back down by his side and looked at his son again. "What did you guys do in p.e?"

"Cross the River," Noah provided in way of explanation.

"What's that?" Olivia inquired, and Rafael wasn't surprised when Noah jumped into a lengthy explanation of just what the game entailed. It was a good thing, though, as Rafael hadn't known what the game was either.

He continued chatting with his family for a few more minutes before it was definitely time to get dinner on the go. Olivia had made dinner the night before, so Rafael didn't hesitate to take cooking duty.

Heading back into the house and into the kitchen, he put the bag of groceries away. He then started rummaging through the kitchen for what he needed and set to work on making arroz con frijoles negros and bistec empanizado for dinner.

They all loved the bistec empanizado, for good reason, but Olivia wanted to eat hers with ketchup this particular evening.

Rafael cringed internally at the slight offence but wasn't going to comment. He was taken back by how disgusted Noah was. He immediately ratted out his mother. "Mom, you can NOT eat bistec empanizado with ketchup! Have some lime."

Rafael had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing.

Olivia was clearly amused and continued to put ketchup on her plate. "It's fine, Sweetie. I'll have some lime on it next time."

Noah looked so affronted, which was absolutely hilarious. "Papi, can you believe this? Mom wants to put ketchup on her bistec empanizado. That is NOT how Cubans eat it. I offered her some lime and she said no!"

He chuckled. "Oh, I heard the conversation." He decided to leave it at that. "Pass the lime back over here, Mijo, would you?"

As Rafael took the dish he was being passed, he saw Olivia roll her eyes, a look of fond exasperation on her face. "See what you've done, Rafa? You've corrupted our son."

He shot her a full-blown smirk. "Merely passing the torch, mi vida."

Olivia immediately let out a laugh, shaking her head. "Boys."


	166. Chapter 166

Rafael ended up dropping Noah off at school again as Olivia got called into work early and had to leave to meet Fin and their victim at Mount Sinai.

Rafael had gotten an early morning phone call as well from Kressler regarding a counteroffer for a deal that Rafael had proposed. Rafael had declined.

They got to the school slightly early and Noah had spotted his classmate Julián and decided to hop out of the car and go talk to him.

Getting out of the car, he followed his son over two where the Pérez family was waiting and he found himself quickly thrown into introductions as he talked to both María and her son. Noah and Julián quickly fell into their own conversation, leaving Rafael to converse with María.

"¿Cuándo se mudaron ustedes aquí?" he inquired. (When did you guys move here?)

"Hace tres años," María explained. "La compañía de mi marido lo transfirió." He nodded slightly to show that he was listening. "¿Y vosotros? ¿Sois de aquí?" It took him a second to translate '_sois' _to '_son'_, but it was still easy enough for him to understand without too much effort. Still, the _vosotros_ form wasn't something they'd spent any real time on learning at school in Spanish class and it wasn't really used in Latin America. Basically just in Spain. (Three years ago. My husband's company transferred him. And you guys? Are you guys from here?)

"Mi esposa y yo nacimos y crecimos aquí. Nuestros dos hijos también," he confirmed. "Mis padres se mudaron a los Estados Unidos cuando eran adolescentes." (My wife and I were both born and raised here. Our two kids as well. My parents came to the U.S when they were teenagers.)

She nodded and the pair continued to chat for another moment before one of the teachers finally opened the gate and it was time for the boys to go inside and head to their class. "Que tengan un buen día ustedes dos." (Have a good day you two.)

María looked between both of the young boys as she echoed Rafael's earlier sentiment. "Que tengáis un buen día." (Have a good day you guys.)

"¡Hasta luego, papi!" Noah exclaimed as the boy started to make his way towards the doors of the school building. (See you later, Papi!)

"¡Te veo después de la escuela, mamá!" Julián chirped. (See you after school, Mom!)

Once Noah was safely inside he politely said goodbye to María and made his way back to the car so that he could head to work. Before he could get in the car, though, his cellphone vibrate.

He immediately grinned when he saw the text was from a certain irritating, very blonde, defence attorney. '_Hey, Goob. Are you free for lunch today?'_

Shaking his head at the silly nickname, he texted his surrogate-sister back_. 'Why, that's the nicest offer I've had all day, Miss Congeniality.'_

He snickered as he read the reply_. _He could literally hear Rita's tone of voice in his head as he read the words on the screen. '_You're such an ass sometimes.'_

He smirked as he typed. _'Takes one to know one.'_

He could practically picture the eye-roll and had to chuckle at the reply._ 'No point in stating the obvious. So, does Forlini's around noon work?"_

Still quite amused, he quickly sent her a, still rather sarcastic, text back confirming that he was free for lunch. _'Is the sun hot?'_

The reply was immediate. '_Again... You're an ass.'_

He chuckled softly. "_Noon_ s_ounds perfect. I'll text you if I catch a case and need a rain cheque, but for now, I'm in the clear.'_

His phone buzzed again a moment later_. 'Great. See you then, Island Boy.'_

He shook his head, still smiling as he sent his reply._ 'See you later, Firecracker.'_

Putting his phone away, he made the short drive to the District Attorney's Office, pleased when he actually managed to find parking.

He was on the phone with Dylan Price's defence attorney before he even walked into One Hogan Place that morning. He then quickly got everything in order for a plea hearing later that same morning. The plea hearing for Dylan Price, thankfully, went off without a hitch and Rafael started the process for an Order of Protection for the ex-girlfriend. She'd been reluctant, but eventually agreed it was for the best.

After that was dealt with he dealt with some work calls and emails before sitting down and cracking open some of the files he had one his desk and getting to work on those until it was time to go meet Rita for lunch.

Lunch had been nice and mostly consisted of Rita giving him a hard time over how unbelievable awkward he had been in his mid/late-twenties. Something that never failed to amuse her, it would seem. Rafael hadn't really drunk before and to say he was a bit of a hot mess was a bit of an understatement.

He'd just groaned, brought up one of her more stellar escapades and then they'd both spent most of the ensuing lunch-break, laughing at some of the ridiculous stuff they'd done when they were in school.

Ah, the joys of being young and stupid. Some things that seemed like a great idea when you were twenty-five, really weren't.

All in all, lunch was really nice, and the pair stayed at the restaurant and prattled on in between bites of food until it was shortly before one o'clock and it was definitely time for both attorneys to head back to their respective offices.

The afternoon passed rather quickly, and Rafael spent basically all of it in his office, making his way through the slowly shrinking stack of files that he had and dealing with the occasional phone call. It was a very rare thing when Rafael didn't get a call asking him to go down to the precinct for yet another case by the end of the workday. He wasn't going to complain, however, as he had enough on his plate as it was and wanted to just go home and spend time with his family.

"I've got to get that," Olivia called out as she rushed into the living room - to get her still ringing cellphone - where Rafael and Noah were building lego before dinner while listening to Benny Moré softly in the background. Sofía was playing with her blocks right beside them and Rafael was going back and forth between the two kids, though Sofía seemed to enjoy undoing whatever Rafael did more than anything else. She definitely had a personality on her. "Love, can you stir the sauce in a minute?"

"Of course, Cariño." He quickly rose to his feet as he replied to her. He glanced at his son as he heard Olivia start talking on the phone and head to another room. "¿Puedes vigilar a tu hermana durante un par de minutos por favor?" (Can you please keep an eye on your sister for a couple of minutes?)

"Claro," the boy readily agreed. (Sure.)

Once again, Rafael appreciated how good of a kid they had. Noah really was a great big brother to Sofía and it was a huge help. "Gracias." (Thanks.)

Rafael couldn't help but smile when Noah immediately started to play blocks with his little sister and then he quickly made his way to the kitchen to check on the spaghetti that his wife had been making for dinner.

Nothing was better than going home to family and eating good food and relaxing.


	167. Chapter 167

"Tommy no doubt had ASD or Acute Stress Disorder," Dr. Huang explained, "but, he didn't get the help he needed in dealing with what happened."

"Meaning what?" Rafael immediately inquired. He'd been called down to the 1-6 after a working lunch to discuss George Huang's evaluation of Tommy Fortier.

His morning had been rather hectic as he had to deal with not only arraignment court that morning but a motions hearing for one of the nastier rape cases to have come across his desk. It had originally been one of his newer ADAs' but they'd requested to recuse themselves from it, leaving Rafael in a bit of a rough spot.

He was currently focused on the Fortiers, however, putting the other case out of his mind for a moment. Rafael hoped Huang's evaluation would help them to, in the end, gain Tommy's trust enough that he'd start talking and, moreover, that the boy would be up to taking the stand when the time came. Rafael didn't like putting children on the stand, but, unfortunately, it was sometimes a must. This case was one of those times. It was a '_he said, she said,_' only this time, the '_she_' was dead. Joel Fortier would take the stand, but the jury would never get to hear Gwen's side of the story.

"I'm concerned it's developed into what's known as Uncomplicated PTSD," the psychiatrist explained, looking between both Rafael and Olivia.

"What's the difference exactly?" Rafael inquired. "Just so I have a better understanding of what we're dealing with."

"Well, Uncomplicated PTSD differs from Complex PTSD in that it's from one event, not multiple," the psychiatrist explained. "This makes it easier to treat in someways. That also a good thing in this case, as Tommy was kept away from most of the abuse that went on in his home. His mother took the brunt of it."

"She protected him," he stated.

"She no doubt tried to," the psychiatrist agreed.

"Were you able to get anything from him?" he inquired.

"He confirmed it was his father," Olivia said. "They were fighting and he shoved her. Tommy watched his father push Gwen in anger, causing her to hit her head. She never woke up."

"And the knife Gwen was found with?" he prodded. Part of the defence's plan was to paint Gwen as mentally unstable. They needed to get a clear picture of what had happened.

Olivia sighed. "The fight was because she was trying to leave him. He got aggressive, and she got the knife for protection... Tommy heard his mother ask Joel to back away multiple times. He didn't."

"Self-defence," he said with a sigh of his own. He turned to better face Dr. Huang as he spoke. "Will Tommy be able to handle taking the stand?"

The psychiatrist mulled it over for a moment before answering. "I believe so. I can work on cooing strategies with him, and you working on prep with him beforehand should make it easier on him. If prepared well... he's a strong kid."

Rafael nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Growing up in an abusive home, you often learned to be rather resilient, in a weird way. The name of the game was to survive; you had no other option but to learn to just take life's punches as it were. He took a deep breath, schooling his expression once more before he spoke. "Good, because he's our best chance at getting Joel put away for good." His lips turned upwards slightly. "I'll meet with the judge tomorrow. Joel is running out of delaying tactics. With any luck, we should be proceeding to trial for Murder Two very soon."

"No chance at a deal?" the psychiatrist inquired.

The captain shook her head. "He's never going to take a plea."

"And why should he?" Rafael scoffed. "Joel doesn't think his son will go against him. Without Tommy's testimony, the jury only gets Joel's side. They're never going to hear Gwen's." He gave Olivia a look. "We need Tommy prepared to take the stand."

The captain nodded. "I know."

The conversation trailed off after that, not much else to talk about regarding the case in question until Rafael got another court date or something else developed.

The captain walked him down to his car, noting that the earlier rain had stopped, and he gave her a quick kiss before hopping inside the car and making the barely ten-minute drive back to One Hogan Place.

He spent the rest of the afternoon in his office, going through different police reports and making some phone calls. No real issues came up with any of the ADAs, thankfully, so Rafael was able to just work, between the occasional update, and managed to actually make some decent headway on his own caseload.

He didn't bother looking up immediately from the document he was reading when the sound of someone knocking on the door and entering the office reached his ears. He was expecting the visitor, in any case. "Good afternoon, Carisi."

"Afternoon, Counsellor," the blond detective replied happily. "So, I've got the copies of those documents that you asked for earlier." He placed the file containing the documents on Rafael's desk. "Also, the DNA results for the Baker case finally came back. Positive." Rafael dipped his head slightly in acknowledgment. "TARU never got anything off the laptop, though, but with the DNA -" the man's voice trailed off._ But with the DNA, we don't really need it. _

He gave the detective a grateful look. There was a reason he'd liked being the 1-6's riding DA from day one. They were usually very on the ball. He'd worked with a couple of sloppier precincts over the years that just served to give him migraines. The 1-6 still did but for altogether different reasons. "Good. So, go ahead and pick Cody up and I'll arraign the guy first thing."

Carisi nodded. The blond then started to say something evidently not work-related when his phone rang. He glanced at the phone quickly. "It's the Captain."

"Duty calls," Rafael deadpanned. "We'll chat later."

"Later," Carisi agreed.

With that, Rafael watched as the blond detective proceeded to answer the phone, make his way out of the office, closing the door behind him. He then immediately through himself back into his work, going over the documents that Carisi had just brought to him.

It was two hours later when Rafael walked through the front door of their brownstone. He chatted with Lucy for a bit and, shortly after the young woman left, Olivia had texted him, letting him know that she'd be a tad late. It was Friday though, so, at least, they'd get the weekend together. With that in mind, he changed into some casual wear and played with both the kids in the backyard for a bit before getting started on dinner. It had been rainy most of the morning, so he was glad it was actually nice out enough to play outside with them.

Eventually, he checked the time and had both kids go back into the house, Noah immediately gravitating to his cars and lego on the living room while Rafael got Sofía into her high chair and suitably occupied.

He was rummaging through the cupboards, trying to decide what to make, when Noah popped his head around the corner. "Papi, ¿puedo ayudarte?" (Papi, can I help you?)

Rafael immediately smiled, his nose crinkling happily. Noah had asked less and less to cook with Rafael and such since he and Olivia got together, mainly, Rafael suspected, as he was now around all the time and it wasn't just a one-off or special occasion. "¿Quieres ayudarme a preparar la cena, Noah? Dale, puedes comenzar ayudándome a decidir qué vamos a comer." (You want to help me with dinner, Noah? Okay, you can start by helping me decide what we're going to eat.)

"¿No puedes hacer una decisión?" Noah immediately quipped, the teasing tone clear as day. (_You_ can't make a choice?)

His lips twitched slightly, fighting back a chuckle. "Oh, puedo _tomar_ decisiones perfectamente bien, gracias," he said, gently correcting his son as the boy had translated the English expression literally into Spanish. (Oh, I can makes decisions perfectly fine, thank you.)

The boy rolled his eyes, amused. "Arroz," Noah then quickly suggested. (Rice.)

He gave a little hum and then he went back to wracking his brain for ideas. "¿Arroz con pollo u otra cosa?" (Rice with chicken or something else?)

His son seemed to consider the suggestion. "¿Podemos cenar otra cosa?" (Can we have something else for dinner?)

"Claro," he agreed easily. "¿Qué estás pensando?" (Sure. What are you thinking?)

The seven-year-old gave a little hum and then looked at Rafael as if a lightbulb went off. "¿Tenemos más bistec?" (Do we have any more steak?)

He shot Noah a look of fond amusement as he knew exactly what the young boy was asking him to make. "¿Quieres bistec empanizado?" (Do you want breaded steak?)

Noah nodded rather enthusiastically. "Sí. Por favorcito." (Yes. Pretty please.)

He gave the boy a small nod, smiling warmly. "Bueno, no veo por qué no. ¿Puedes traerme los huevos del refrigerador por favor?" (Well, I don't see why not. Can you go get the eggs from the fridge for me please?)

He checked on Sofía for a minute and started helping Noah take out the flour, cracker meal, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, and everything else that they needed to make the bistec empanizado, rice, and fried sweet plantains.

Neither father nor son could keep the smiles off their faces as they went through how to make the dishes step by step, Rafael sharing a funny story about his grandmother when she was teaching Rafael how to make it the summer when he'd come back from his first year of college.

Rafael had to stop occasionally to look after Sofía, but, all in all, it went smoothly, and they were giggling loudly about something Noah said when Olivia walked in.

"What's so funny?" she immediately asked, smiling warmly as she walking over to Rafael to give him a quick kiss.

"Corny jokes," Rafael replied in fond amusement, immediately switching from Spanish to English with ease in order to talk to his wife.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course," she said with a chuckle. "I should've known." She walked over to Noah and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I take it by the flour on your shirt you were helping your dad with dinner?"

"Yupp!" Noah chirped, also making the switch. Rafael spoke Spanglish more often than not with Eddie, his mother, and his younger relatives, for example, but deliberately made an effort not to when speaking with or around Noah as much as possible as he wanted Noah to actually hear proper Spanish. It was the only way he felt the boy was really going to learn the language, as he'd started learning it when he was a fair bit older. "I got to help out a lot," the seven-year-old said proudly.

"He was a big help," Rafael agreed, smiling. "I do think a shower is in order though because you're a flour magnet."

Olivia gave an amused little hum, looking between both boys. "That's one way to put it, I suppose."

Noah chuckled and pointed at Rafael's own, slightly messy, t-shirt. "I'm not the only one."

He shook his head in fond exasperation. "Cheeky brat."


	168. Chapter 168

The weekend flew by quickly, but they all had a lot of fun. Saturday, which was thankfully quite sunny, was spent at Coney Island's boardwalk and the New York Aquarium with the Carisi-Rollinses. Fin had joined them as well. Tamin had been invited but had told them she had plans with a woman she'd gone on a couple of dates with.

Sunday was definitely eventful. Sofía was finally baptized, Carisi and Rollins being named the godparents. It was Noah's second RCIC class as well, and he seemed to enjoy it well enough. They then spent the day with Rafael's mother, playing dominos and a couple of other games, chatting, listening to music, and just generally hanging out together as a family.

The weekend _had_ felt like it went by too fast, and Rafael was thrown into another week of trials and, as it turned out, more than a few late nights. Still, Thursday morning, both adults - who were frankly both wishing for just ten minutes more of sleep - got out of bed, had coffee, grabbed the one-year-old, and then tried to get a rather groggy seven-year-old out of bed and ready for school that morning.

After breakfast, Olivia went to change Sofía out of her pyjamas and Rafael made sure that Noah had everything he needed for school and all his stuff together for his Spanish class after school.

After Noah put his agenda back into his schoolbag, he stood back up and eyed Rafael. "¿Tengo que ir a clases de español esta tarde?" Noah whined. (Do I _have to_ go to Spanish classes this afternoon?)

Noah's after-school activities had been a slight point of contention lately. On top of Noah starting classes again at the same dance school that he'd been at prior to the entire pandemic debacle, both Rafael and Olivia had gone back and forth more than once over whether or not to push for Noah to take language classes when the boy made it clear he didn't want to take even more school.

The point of contention was over whether or not it was worth pushing the issue if Noah was going to just resent it. The seven-year-old's Spanish _was, _understandably, a bit weaker than his English was, so they'd looked into registering him for a reading and writing class once a week. Noah hadn't been pleased. They'd ultimately decided, however, to enrol him. Noah had a fairly decent reading level, for his language level, as they did read a lot, but Noah almost never wrote in Spanish. The language support _would_ help. If, after the first semester, he really hated it they'd let him drop it, but they wanted to, at the very least, encourage it.

Rafael sighed. "Sí. Por la misma razón que estudias inglés en la escuela." He softened his look and said something he hoped would help the boy think they weren't being totally unfair. "Tu prima está asistiendo a clases de italiano ahora también." (Yes. For the same reason that you study English at school. Your cousin is attending Italian classes now too.)

Noah eyed him. "¿Ella es?" (She is?)

He nodded. Carisi had managed to find a Saturday morning, Italian, class for kids and had quickly enrolled her. "Sí." Wanting to cheer Noah up, he then shot his son a conspiratorial look and spoke to him in a stage whisper. "Ya sabes, mamá todavía está arriba. Creo que podríamos robar otro vaso de Nesquick si estamos callados. ¿Qué te parece?" (Yes. You know, mom is still upstairs. I think we could steal another glass of chocolate milk if we're quiet. What do you think?)

"Con leche condensada?" Noah quickly asked, brightening up almost immediately. (With condensed milk?)

He looked at the seven-year-old with feigned indignation. "Claro que sí. ¿Hay alguna otra forma de beberlo?" (Of course. Is there any other way to drink it?)

Rafael had immediately gotten the reaction he was looking for. Noah giggled enthusiastically at Rafael's antics before the boy started running towards the kitchen to, presumably, get his drink as quickly as possible. _Fine by me. At least he's less resentful of the classes now._

It wasn't long before Lucy arrived and Rafael kissed his wife and the kids goodbye before heading off to work, leaving Olivia to drop Noah off at school that morning for the first time in a couple of days.

He was a couple of minutes early for his meeting with the D.A, so he pulled up the news on his phone, scrolling threw a couple of articles until a headline caught his attention.

_**Men attacked Latino tree trimmer; hit him with pole saw in brutal hate crime: Manhattan D.A is horrified.**_

_Two Brooklyn men are accused of beating a Latino man who was working with a tree-trimming crew in a despicable attack police have described as "racially motivated."_

_Authorities said the suspects berated the victim, called him names, held his face against a trailer and struck his back with a pole saw._

Rafael shook his head with a sigh and chucked his phone off to the side, not bothering to finish reading the article. He was really getting tired of this... What had Reverend Curtis called it again? A kabuki? The man certainly had a way with words... but, Rafael agreed. This old, dramatic, song and dance had been going on for far too long and showed no signs of getting better any time soon.

After the rather brief meeting with the D.A, Rafael ended up staying in his office and buckling down on the work he had in his office as he waiting for news regarding the current case that was keeping him busy.

As of three days prior, they had finally gone to trial on multiple counts of rape, sodomy, and unlawful impressment against Marshall Talbot. He wasn't sorry about letting the original ADA on the case recuse himself, by any means. Talbot was a piece of work and the man had a preference for going after gay and bisexual men.

Thankfully, they had a fairly strong case and more than a few witnesses. He was, admittedly, a bit nervous, though. The case was strikingly similar to the Jeremy Jones case, although Talbot was definitely less charming and, by all accounts, more violent. He was worried about the jury just seeing gay sex games. The only thing worse than '_he-said, she-said'_ was '_he-said, he-said._'

Trying to focus, he shook his head and started going back over the report that he was in the middle of reading once more before he got a text from Olivia asking him to grab lunch and chat.

"The jury's been deliberating for two days," he said, the couple making their way down the street, sandwich and coffee in hand. "And they keep popping out to say that they're deadlocked."

"You did your job, Rafa. It was a good cross," his wife assured him, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "We should head back."

"Agreed," he said with a sigh.

Olivia squeezed his hand. "Relax, love."

He gave her a small smile. "Sometimes this job..." He shook his head.

She nodded. "I know."

The conversation turned to lighter topics as the couple made their way back towards the D.A's Office and where Olivia was parked.

It wasn't long before they were around the corner from One Hogan Place and had to go their separate ways. As they reached Olivia's cruiser, he looked into his wife's chocolate brown eyes, smiling warmly before he pulled her towards him, kissing her deeply. "Love you, Cariño."

She smiled warmly back at him. "I love you too, Rafa."

He waited until she drove off and then started to make his way towards the main entrance of the D.A's Office. He was just about to go around the corner when two arms reached around him; one covering his mouth and the other levelling a gun at Rafael's forehead. "Hello there, Counsellor."

The prosecutor swallowed, his stomach clenching. "Marshall, don't do this."

Surprisingly, no reply immediately came. Rafael tensed slightly at the fact, weighing his options and chances of getting out of this alive. "Here's what we're gunna do, and if you try anything funny, I'll blow your fucking brain ls out. Got it?"

He gulped, nodding. He didn't have much of a choice.

"Good."


	169. Chapter 169

Rafael tried not to grimace as the muzzle of the gun was lowered and now digging into his right side, Talbot shoving him and telling him to start walking. As they made their way into the D.A's Office, Rafael could see no good way out of this situation; either he cooperated with Talbot and likely got killed or he fought and put himself and numerous others at risk of being shot by stray bullets.

He took a shaky breath as one of the paralegals they walked by asked if Rafael was okay. He still had no idea how he'd been able to keep his voice as steady as it had been, but was thankful he was able to convince the young man to leave him be. Talbot had the small gun covered with his long sleeve shirt, so nobody was the wiser of what was actually going on and wouldn't have time to react.

It was harder to stay calm, however, when they reached Carmen's desk, her clearly recognizing the man with Rafael and noticing something was wrong. She immediately wiped the look of concern off her face, however, and immediately went about her business. "Sir, Sergeant Tutuola called for confirmation about your meeting in a half-an-hour regarding the deposition for the Catalina Díaz case?"

He fought to keep the look of pride off his face. She was handling this better than most. "Call the sergeant back and cancel the meeting. I haven't had time to view the deposition and I have other things that need to get done this afternoon." He took a slightly shaky breath as he continued to speak. "I tried calling him around _10:13 _but they'd apparently caught a case, so I didn't get the chance to inform him that I wouldn't be available to meet with him this afternoon."

She nodded. "Will do, sir."

"I have another important meeting right now," he said, "so I'll be in my office if you need something." _Please call Fin and get help, Carmen._

She nodded again. "I've got everything under control at the moment, I think. I'll let you both get to your meeting."

Trusting his assistant to do what he needed her to do, Rafael allowed himself to be nudged forward, taking Talbot to his office and closing the door behind them.

Once Talbot was satisfied that the door was locked and blinds were closed, he turned to face Rafael, holding the gun out in the open now that it didn't need to be hidden. "You banging that woman too?" the other man inquired, making a vague gesture towards the door, indicating that he was referring to Carmen.

Rafael just glared, not wanting to dignify that with a response.

Talbot just smirked. "Or are you fucking the blond detective? He's good looking and definitely has a puppy dog attitude when it comes to you."

"Shut up," Rafael hissed out. It took him a moment to register the slap across the face that he got immediately after, although he admittedly wasn't unaware that the psycho in front of him had a tendency towards violence.

"Keep your pretty little mouth shut or I'll put it to good use," the man said with a smirk. "What do you think? Should we have some fun?"

"Go to hell," he spat out.

The man just laughed, looking with amusement between Rafael the gun currently in his hands. "Honey, I've already been."

Rafael did his best to keep his expression neutral, but by the ever pleased grin on his captor's face, he was failing. Not much truly scared Rafael, but he was currently petrified. He'd seen the crime scene photos, heard the testimony. He knew very well what the sorry excuse for a man in front of him was capable of. He knew he was in a bad situation. "What do you want?"

He gave Rafael a once over, assessing him. "Besides, you out of that suit?" Talbot said with a self-satisfied smirk when Rafael's nausea at the implications of that played out on his face. "You're going to get my case tossed."

"You're making a big mistake," he said, not moving from where he was standing. "This doesn't have to get any worse for you, Marshall."

He gave a little snort. "I know it's hard for lawyers to shut up, but try harder."

Rafael rolled his eyes.

"Come here," his captor ordered.

Trying not to show how scared he actually was, he breathed deeply and walked forward until he was standing directly in front of Talbot

He wanted to vomit when Talbot pulled him close and roughly kissed him. "Hmmm, you taste so sweet." He kissed Rafael again. Rafael squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head to avoid the aggressive mouth invading his own. "Just relax. I'm going to take good care of you."

Talbot then started to run his hand down Rafael's thigh. Rafael shuddered at the unwanted touch. "Why don't you go fuck yourself!" he snapped.

"Tempting, tough guy, but I'd rather fuck you," the man retorted, before starting to grind his hips against Rafael's groin. Rafael just closed his eyes, trying to ignore the other man's erection being pressed up against him. _This can't be happening. I hope help gets here soon. _

He kissed Rafael again and, apparently satisfied that he'd proved some point of his, Talbot, blessedly, backed off. He then eyed Rafael. "Later," he said as though making a promise. "Right now though, we have other matters to deal with, hmmm?"

Rafael gave a half-nod, not trusting himself to speak. He took a second to pull himself together. "What is it you want exactly, Marshall?"

"Oh, you damn well know what I want," the other man replied, looking at Rafael like he was an idiot. "I want my case dropped."

"You know I can do anything about that now," Rafael said, putting his phone on the desk as he spoke so that he could see the screen, turning the ringer on. "It's out of my hands. Even if I drop the case, it'll just be reassigned."

Talbot smirked. "Not unless you come forward and claim that this is all some vendetta, that you were being paid to take me down by Carter and Rutherfurd."

Rafael had to laugh a bit over the absurdity of the man's request. "Who in their right mind is going to believe that I took favours from a couple of middle-aged men to get some loser I never met put behind bars? And, frankly, a prosecutor would gain nothing from such petty low-level shit."

He really shouldn't have been surprised when a hand roughly met his cheek a moment later. "Shut up or I will find a better use for that mouth of yours before I follow through on blowing your brains out."

He dipped his head slightly. "That plan won't work, Marshall, I'm telling you, but -" He gulped again at the look he immediately received. "- but, I can help you get a deal."

Talbot eyed him, playing with the gun in his hands, for a moment. "And why should I trust anything you have to say?"

"I can help you come up with a deal that'll keep you out of jail," he told the man. "A suspended sentence."

Just then he heard footsteps outside his office.

Marshall moved the blinds slightly to see who was outside and immediately eyed him, definitely looking ready to make good on his earlier promise. "What did you do, you stupid wetback?"

Rafael swallowed the lump in his throat. "Nothing. I -"

Much to Rafael's relief, his phone started to ring.

"Answer it," Rafael said, trying to keep his voice steady. "That's your best chance of getting out of here alive right now."

"And yours?" the man said with a smirk. "I could just kill you right now."

"And they'd come in guns blazing," Rafael pointed out.

Conceding the point, Talbot took a seat at the end of Rafael's desk, gesturing for Rafael to sit down as well. "Don't say a fucking word, got it?"

He nodded, not wanting to make the man angrier.

Talbot then accepted the incoming phone call as his phone began to ring again. He pushed the speaker icon, the voice of the negotiator filling the room.

"Hello, Mr. Talbot! My name is Jennifer Rivera. I'm with the Hostage Negotiation Team. I would like to speak with you and see if we can reach an agreement and resolve this issue without anyone getting hurt."

"I want a car and unrestricted passage out of here," Talbot said after a moment. "No cops trailing me out of the city. If I even get the hint, I open fire and I have pretty good aim. Your D.A here will be a testament to that. If we make it outside of the city without being followed I'll leave Barba on the side of the road somewhere. He'll probably be breathing…" he paused and then added, "…it really depends on how annoying Barba is. He is pretty annoying."

Well, that certainly wasn't a comforting statement.

"Alright," the negotiator said. "We can certainly get that done, although we'll need some time. But, I need to know that Mr. Barba is okay."

"He's fine," the man spat out.

"Can I talk to him briefly?" the woman tried again.

"No, he doesn't talk until I get what I want," Talbot immediately shot back. The man had evidentially figured out Rafael was better at subtle hints then he'd originally thought and didn't want Rafael to have the chance to gain the upper hand again.

"Mr. Talbot, I need proof of life… nothing more," the woman said. "You have demands we want to meet but you also have a hostage with a family that is waiting for him. We want to cooperate with you, but I need to know that Mr. Barba is okay."

"Fine," the man grumbled before holding up the phone. "Your girlfriend wants to talk to you. Are you in?"

"Ass," Rafael grumbled, picking up the phone. "Hello."

"Mr. Barba," the negotiator pressed, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Rafael said. "We've just been having a slightly heated discussion."

Talbot grabbed the phone. "See, he's fine."

"I'm glad," the woman said.

Talbot went and glanced outside the window, watching a black SUV pull up. "Where's my car?"

"It just got here," the negotiator explained. "I'm telling my team to stand down right now so you can come out. You'll have a clear path."

"Good! Hurry up!" Talbot yelled before roughly grabbing Rafael and placing the gun to his right temple. He waited another minute or so before shoving Rafael towards the door. "Move. Now."

The walk back through the building was one of the most stressful walks of Rafael's life, and his stomach started churning even more when they got into the car. He didn't believe Talbot's lie about dropping him off somewhere and even if the man did... '_He'll probably be breathing…'_ That didn't bode well for Rafael and Talbot's intentions with him. He didn't even care that his hands were noticeably trembling at that point.

When he heard a gunshot and felt, not saw, Talbot hit the ground, Rafael was stunned more than relieved. _That could've hit me too._

The relief came later when Olivia was hugging him as though her life depended on it. And if Rafael needed the contact too, well, fuck anyone who had a problem with it. He couldn't bring himself to care. He was home. Safe.


	170. Chapter 170

The rest of that Thursday, Rafael hadn't entirely been himself, but, he showered and did manage to get some sleep, which helped some.

Rafael hadn't slept much that night, as was up a bit early as the D.A had called Rafael to tell him to just take the weekend and not to come into work that Friday. Carmen got the day off as well, which was more than earned. Rafael had argued the point initially, regarding his own forced day off, but Jack McCoy was almost, if not more, stubborn than Rafael himself and the man wasn't going to budge on the matter. Olivia readily agreed with McCoy as well, and Rafael didn't have it in him to truly argue the point, so agreed to spend the day with Sofía, Noah joining them after school.

He was cleaning Sofía's face as she had managed to get food all over her and tried to eavesdrop on his wife's conversation with Carisi that was clearly about Rafael himself. "Sì, non lavora oggi. Il suo capo non gli ha dato molta scelta. Onestamente, è stato un po 'agitato. No. Certo, lo farò sapere. A presto."

He couldn't understand much of the Italian but was able to understand her saying something about being flustered when she'd said it. He was impressed by the lack of hesitation in her speaking, though, as he knew she didn't practice her Italian a whole lot, even with Carisi being on the squad. The pair mostly spoke English.

Once they'd all finished breakfast, Rafael and Olivia sat down for another coffee Before she had to head to work and he needed to drop Noah off at school and make a quick trip to a bodega for some things.

He and Sofía had some fun around the house and in the backyard, and Rafael had to concede, if only to himself, that he had needed the break more than he'd like to admit. Staying home with his daughter was far from the worst way to spend the day.

The morning had been nice honestly, the pair playing different games inside and having some quality father-daughter time.

"Papá," the little girl said, immediately getting his full attention. "Che."

"Leche?" he inquired, used to the way the fourteen-month-old spoke. It was, understandably, a work in progress, but she was honestly doing very well. She got read and sang to in both English and Spanish as often as they could manage, so they were doing everything they could to help make sure that she didn't fall behind in her language development. "¿Quieres leche, mijita?" (Milk? Do you want milk, Sweetie?)

"Pwee," Sofía said, nodding enthusiastically and trying to grab his hand. _Please_.

He smiled, taking his daughter's hand. "Claro. Vamos a la cocina para que pueda servirte un vaso pequeño." (Sure. Let's go to the kitchen so that I can pour you a small glass.)

The little girl just smiled, trying to lead him to the kitchen.

He poured her a glass of milk and then glanced outside; the weather had gotten progressively worse and worse throughout the morning. "¿Crees que va a llover hoy?" (Do you think it's going to rain today?)

The little girl nodded in the affirmative.

"Pienso lo mismo," he continued, just prattling on as he tended to do just so she'd get as much exposure to different vocabulary as possible, "porque mira esas nubes negras. Va a llover fuerte." (I think so too, because look at those black clouds. It's going to rain hard.)

He continued to chat while he sat Sofía down in her high chair, sippy cup in front of her, and checked the time. With it being almost lunchtime, he set up a small activity for her to do while she was seated.

With her occupied, he scrolled through his phone, changing the song that was currently playing to another one of his favourites. He then started to cut up some cheese, banana, and ham and putting those and a couple of crackers on a plate for her.

After she ate lunch, was changed, and was put down for a nap, he threw a quick lunch together for himself and took advantage of the fact that his daughter was asleep to got some housework done. It was so much easier to do during the two hours she was asleep upstairs than while she was underfoot.

Once she was up again, she spent a fair amount of time playing with her xylophone and while Rafael, staying closeby, chatted with Eddie over the phone. "¿Estás seguro de que estás bien? Quiero decir, ese tipo te mantuvo a punta de pistola y..." (Are you sure you're alright? I mean, that dude held you at gunpoint and...)

"Estoy bien, sinceramente," Rafael said after a moment. "O... lo estaré." (I'm fine, honestly. Or... I will be.)

"De verdad?" Eddie prodded, clearly not fully believing him. (Really?)

"Sí. Simplemente estoy un poco desvelado," he offered in way of explanation. He wasn't about to admit just why he hadn't gotten much sleep, however. Especially as Eddie didn't know about the more intimate aspects of the Talbot ordeal. He'd had to discuss it with and give an official statement to Fin, and, frankly, that had been bad enough. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel Talbot's hands on him and feel the gun pressed up against him. (Yes. I'm just a bit sleepy from having a late night.)

"Bueno," Eddie said, seemingly deciding whether to push the issue or not, "si alguna vez necesitas hablar..." (Well, if you ever need to talk...)

"Lo sé," he replied easily, feeling rather grateful Eddie wasn't going to push the issue and just let Rafael handle things on his own time. "Gracias, hermano. Tengo que irme, pero saluda a todos de mi parte." (I know. Thanks, Brother. I've got to go, but say hi to everyone for me.)

Eddie quickly replied, making plans for the pair to catch up soon, and then, the call ending, he returned his full attention to his daughter. He played with her some and then it was time to go pick up Noah from school.

Thankfully, the rather hard rain had stopped and the sun was peaking through. It was nice enough out now that walking to the school wasn't an issue, but he brought an umbrella, all the same.

Once Noah was in front of him, Rafael gave the boy a warm smile and took his son's backpack, slinging it over his right shoulder. "¿Qué tal tu día?" (How was your day?)

"Estuvo bien," the seven-year-old replied. "La ciencia fue divertida. También comenzamos a leer un libro llamado Charlotte's Web." (It was good. Science was fun. We started reading a book called Charlotte's Web too.)

"¿La telaraña de Charlotte? ¡Qué chévere!" he replied, more than familiar enough with the book himself. It _was_ a good book. "¿Te gusta el libro hasta ahora?" (Charlotte's Web? How cool! Do you like the book so far?)

"Sí," Noah replied happily, having clearly enjoyed the little he'd read of the book. "No quise dejarlo cuando terminamos de leer. ¿Lo has leído, papi?" (Yeah. I didn't want to put it down when we were done reading. Have you read it, Papi?)

"Sí," he said, nodding his head, "cuando era niño." (Yes, when I was a boy.)

They continued to chat amicably all the way home about Noah's day, what their plans were for the weekend, and what the boy was looking forward to doing at school the following week. Noah also asked if he could go over to a friend's house after school at some point the following week, which Rafael readily agreed to. They hadn't been in the house long, however when Noah ran to where Rafael kept his guitar, bringing it out and looking at Rafael. "¿Puedes tocar una canción?" (Can you play a song?)

"Claro." He sat Sofía on the couch, taking the guitar from Noah who sat beside his little sister. Rafael then took a seat himself, deciding to play his grandmother's favourite song. One he was quite fond of as well.

_'Amor adios_

_No se puede continuar_  
_Ya la magia termino_  
_Ahora tengo que marchar_

_Sera mejor_  
_Seguir nuestra soledad_  
_Si hoy el cielo se cubrio_  
_Quizas mañana brille el sol _

_No sufras mas, quizas mañana_  
_Nuestro llanto quede atras_  
_Y si me dices que tu amor me esperara_  
_Tendre la luz que mi sendero alumbrara_

_Y volvere como un ave_  
_Que retorna a su nidal_  
_Veras que pronton volvere y me quedare_

_Por esa paz que siempre siempre tu me das_  
_Que tu me das_

_No sufras mas, quizas mañana_  
_Nuestro llanto quede atras_  
_Y si me dices que tu amor me esperara_  
_Tendre la luz que mi sendero alumbrara_

_No sufras mas, quizas mañana_  
_Nuestro llanto quede atras_  
_Y si me dices que tu amor me esperara_  
_Tendre la luz que mi sendero alumbrara_

_Y volvere, a tus brazos caere_  
_Las estrellas brillaran_  
_Nuestro amor renacera'_

As he sang, the stress of the last couple of days melted away, and as he finished the song, his son looked over at him, beaming. "¡Bella canción!"

"Gracias, hombrecito." He regarded his son, feeling genuinely at ease for the moment. "Era la canción favorita de tu bisabuela." (Thanks, little man. It was your great-grandmother's favourite song.)

"También me gusta," Noah said. The boy then seemed to consider whether to ask something or not. After a brief moment, however, he spoke up. "¿Puedes contarme más sobre ella? No hablas mucho de ella." (I like it too. Can you tell me more about her? You don't talk about her much.)

He eyed his son, a wistful smile forming on his lips. He would never not miss his grandmother. She'd been there for him through everything, and, honestly, he still regretted the way things had ended between them. The last time he'd seen her had been spent bickering because he wouldn't hear her out. He'd come to terms with it, but that would never _not_ hurt. "Tu bisabuela fue realmente una de las personas más amables que he conocido. Abuelita y yo tuvimos una relación muy estrecha." He gave a little sigh. "Lamentablemente, falleció cuando tenías un año debido a un ataque al corazón. Ella tenía varios problemas de salud antes de eso y no se recuperó." (Your great-grandmother was truly one of the kindest people I've ever met. Abuelita and I were very close. Sadly, she passed away when you were one due to a heart attack. She had various health issues prior to that and didn't recover.)

They chatted awhile, Rafael sharing a few memories of his grandmother that he held dear with Noah. He was a little teary-eyed during it, but he also laughed a lot. His grandmother had been one hell of a woman, that was one thing for certain.


	171. Chapter 171

Saturday morning dawned and Rafael woke up, thankfully, feeling a bit more like his usual self. He'd actually managed to get some sleep the night prior, which seemed to help his state of mind quite a bit.

He woke up before Olivia to little noises coming from Sofía's room, got out of bed, quickly threw some clothes on and went to get their daughter. Sofía wasn't upset by any means, but he knew it wouldn't be too long before she tired of being in her bed and started calling out in earnest.

With Sofía awake and changed, he headed to the kitchen, setting her up with some Cheerios in her highchair to munch on while he got some coffee on the go.

The much-needed coffee in hand, he peered into the living room where Noah was currently watching some cartoon or other, which was hardly unusual on the weekends. "Buenas. ¿Dormiste bien?" (Mornin'. Did you sleep well?)

His son glanced over towards him and then back to the TV. "Sí." (Yes.)

"¿Por qué no pausas tu programa y vienes a desayunar?" he suggested. "Puedes terminar de verlo después de comer." (Why don't you pause your show and come have breakfast? You can finish watching it after you eat.)

"¡De acuerdo, papi!" Noah replied. The boy then quickly grabbed the remote control, stopped his show, and started to make his way to the kitchen table like he'd been asked. "¿Mamá todavía está dormida?" (Okay, Papi! Is mom still asleep?)

"Sí," he confirmed before quickly checking on Sofía who was still contentedly eating the Cheerios he'd given her a few minutes prior. "¿Qué querías para el desayuno?" (Yes. What do you want for breakfast?)

"No quiero conflei esta mañana," Noah replied. "¿Podemos comer otra cosa?" (I don't want cereal this morning. Can we eat something else?)

"Está bien," he readily agreed. "Qué te gustaría desayunar entonces?" (That's fine. What would you like to have for breakfast then?)

Noah seemed to consider it for a second, but a moment later simply shrugged.

Rafael shook his head slightly, a look of fond exasperation on his face as he regarded his son. "¿Tortillas de plátano?" (Sweet plantain omelettes?)

His son immediately grinned. "¡Sí, por favor!" (Yes, please!)

With that settled, Rafael gave Sofía some cut up fruit and started to get breakfast together for both Noah and himself. Once they'd had breakfast, as promised, he let Noah watch a little bit more TV until Olivia had woken up and eaten an hour later.

After Rafael helped Noah with his homework, they ended up just hanging out at home most of the day. They played games with the kids and then had some quiet time that afternoon while Sofía was asleep. It was nice out, so they all lounged around in the backyard, reading, for a while.

Eventually, the Cragens - who had recently come back from a trip - stopped by to watch the kids while he and Olivia went out for dinner and then to see _West Side Story, _their first date in a while. Olivia was still finishing getting ready, so Rafael opened the door for the elder couple.

"Rafael," both Donald and Eileen greeted.

"Don. Eileen." He gave the man a warm smile as the older man took off his shoes and jacket, "how's life been treating you both?"

Donald was the one to reply. "Lena and I are doing well, thanks."

"It _is_ good to be back in the city, though," Eileen added.

"Need a vacation from your vacation?" he quipped.

"You can say that," Donald said wryly.

Rafael gestured for the older couple to take a seat on the couch. He glanced over at Donald and Eileen as they sat down beside him. "We really appreciate you doing this."

"Anytime," Donald assured him. "Liv still getting ready?"

"Yeah," he said with a slight chuckle. "We ended up running a little late, as you can clearly see." He gestured over to where Sofía was playing with her blocks. "Hazard of having two kids underfoot."

"I can imagine," the older man said with a small smile. "You know, -"

Whatever Donald was going to say was interrupted by Noah running out of his room at the sound of the elder man's voice. "Grandma Lena! Grandpa Don!" The seven-year-old immediately threw his arms around his surrogate grandmother and grandfather. None of them saw each other nearly enough for anyone's wishes, but there was still a very real relationship there.

Donald ruffled the young boy's hair playfully. "Well, hey there! I was wondering where my favourite Energizer Bunny was."

Noah immediately laughed. "You're silly, Grandpa."

Donald chuckled at that. "Sometimes. Life's too short to take things too seriously. Laughing is good for the soul."

"That it is," Eileen agreed.

"A lesson that I took a long time to learn," Rafael said, "but you're right."

The older man gave him a knowing look. "You learned it a lot earlier than I did."

He gave a little hum in response.

"So," Eileen said, eyeing Noah, "I was thinking about pizza and a movie?"

"And maybe some pie and ice cream for dessert?" Donald added conspiratorially. "How does that sound, Kiddo?" They'd known about the tentative plan so Olivia had run out and bought some earlier in the day.

Noah grinned. "Awesome!"

"So, we won't be missed tonight!" Rafael teased.

Noah rolled his eyes. "You know I love you, Papi."

He tousled his son's hair. "I'm well aware, you silly goof," he quipped. He then eyed his son with a playful look. "_But_ I'll forgive you if you save me some pie."

His son snickered. "Deal."

His attention was pulled over to where Sofía was squealing with laughter as Eileen was playing with her. "Watch out for the glasses," he quipped.

A moment later, Olivia finally walked in. "Ready to go, Rafa?"

He looked over her. She was wearing a stunning, black, fitted dress. "I am." He pulled her in for a kiss. "You look absolutely gorgeous."

She smiled. "You don't look too bad yourself, handsome." She turned to Donald and Eileen. "Thanks for watching the kids tonight. I hope your day went well?"

"Say nothing of it," Donald said. "You know we don't get to visit nearly enough. Anyway, our day was good."

"We mostly just relaxed," Eileen explained, "but it was nice. And as Don said, it's really no problem. Tonight'll be fun."

"Well," Olivia said, "we should get going if we want to make our reservation." She gave Sofía and then Noah a quick kiss goodbye. "Have fun tonight and we'll see you in the morning, Sweetie."

Noah pulled Olivia in for a hug. "See you in the morning, Mom."

Rafael kissed the kids goodbye, and then thanked the Cragens one last time before both Olivia and himself left for their date night.


	172. Chapter 172

Date night had been great. Dinner had gone smoothly, and, they both really enjoyed the show, and ended up discussing what they go see next. They were currently going back and forth between picking _The Wrong Man _or _Plaza Suite _for the next time.

They'd gotten home late and after saying goodnight to Donald and Eileen stayed up for another couple hours just chatting about everything under the sun before they finally, completely exhausted, headed to bed, crawling into each other's arms, sharing brief sleepy kisses before both drifted off to sleep.

Sunday was spent with Rafael's mother and some relatives who had come down from Miami as well as some longtime family friends, celebrating her birthday, and then they were thrown into yet another hectic workweek.

He didn't have court at all that morning, so ended up being the one to drop Noah off at school before heading to his office to manage his files and get some updates regarding some of the higher-profile cases they currently had going on.

He ended up grabbing lunch with Blaine, who he hadn't talked to in a while, and then the pair went their separate ways, Blaine needing to return to work and Rafael getting a call from Scott Turow who called, needing to meet with Rafael. As it turned out, someone who'd gotten off in Manhattan a couple of years prior had allegedly reoffended, and Turow wanted a copy of the prior Manhattan victim's depositions for his case. Rafael had told Turow everything he knew, made arrangements for the video to be sent to the other man's office by the day's end, and wished the man luck.

He hadn't had time to get much else done after that meeting before he was asked to go down to the 1-6 as they'd caught a case.

"So, what do we have?" he inquired as he entered the squad room. He handed out the coffees he'd grabbed everyone.

Everyone thanked him and Tamin proceeded to explain the situation. "A school teacher is suspected of sexually abusing one of her eleven-year-old students." _Her. Well, this should definitely be interesting._ The officer then pointed to the board where several things regarding the investigation were posted, one being a photo he presumed was off the aforementioned teacher. "Megan Evans, 34. We arrested her this morning after the school called in a possible 'inappropriate relationship' involving a teacher."

"What school?" he inquired.

_"_Great Oaks Charter School," Carisi informed him. "It's on the Lower East Side."

He gave a half nod. "Okay. So, what did you find out at the school?"

"Well," Carisi said, "through the tip-off, we discovered that Evans had been having inappropriate contact with the young boy, Justin Livingston, since late last year."

"Are we looking at molestation or rape?" Rafael inquired. Not that one was remotely good, but he had to know as it would greatly affect how he built his case and what charges he could file against the woman.

Tamin sighed. "According to Justin, we're looking at rape."

He nodded. "Do we know of any other students who were hurt?"

"Not yet," Carisi said, "but I doubt Jason is Evans' first victim."

Rafael eyed both Tamin and Carisi. "Find out."

"On it, Counsellor!" Carisi chirped, going to grab his things so he could presumably head back to the school to talk with staff again. "You coming, Kat?"

"I'll grab my keys," the officer quipped.

Rafael eyed the rest of the squad. "Anything else?"

"Nah, man!" Fin chimed in. "It's been slow."

The captain just shook her head, slightly amused. "He's not wrong. I was going to have Amanda here go talk to Lily Tobin again about testifying against Andrew, but other than that, I think you're all caught up, Counsellor."

"Like I said," Fin deadpanned, "it's been slow."

He eyed Rollins. "How was she the last time you two talked?" Lily Tobin was a young domestic violence victim who was rather hesitant to leave her husband of two years and refused to testify. Rollins seemed to have built a good rapport with Lily, so they were all hoping that _that_ would eventually pay off. She was a sweet girl and deserved so much better than the hand she was currently being dealt.

Rollins sighed. "Honestly, I think it's still a long-shot. I think she's getting closer to working up the courage to possibly leave him, given the pregnancy, but actually testifying..."

He waved the comment off and sighed. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"The main concern right now is her safety," Olivia agreed. "If we can get her to the point of leaving and getting an OOP against Andrew, that's a good start."

Nobody could argue with that.

Heading back to his office, he was surprised to see Jack McCoy waiting for him in his office with a folder filled with papers in his hands. Why Carmen didn't give him a heads up, he had no idea. It wasn't a big deal, though.

"Can I help you, sir?" Rafael inquired, making his way behind his desk to take a seat across from his boss. His curiosity had been piqued the second he noticed the folder that his boss had brought with him. He was fairly certain that it wasn't a case file, but he had no idea where to even begin guessing.

The elder man placed the folder down on the desk in front of Rafael and looked up at him with a sly smile. "I'm stepping down at the end of term."

Rafael couldn't honestly say he was surprised at the elderly man wanting to retire after service as District Attorney for so many years. He also couldn't say that the retirement wasn't well earned. Still, he wasn't entirely sure what all this had to do with him specifically. "Okay."

The older man gestured towards the file, so Rafael grabbed it and opened it, glancing over the small stack of papers that he'd been brought. They were documents to be signed in order to officially run for Manhattan District Attorney. He glanced back up at his boss. "Well, _that's_ subtle."

The other man laughed. "I wasn't exactly aiming for subtle, Rafael." _No duh, Jack!_

His lips quirked upwards in amusement. "Jack..."

"At least consider it," the older man said. "You've done well in your current role and I think you could do some real good in the position." _Well, that statement's certainly a lot to unpack all on its own._

He wracked his brain for a moment, really not sure of what all to make of the situation. After a moment, he said, "I'll consider it."

The other man gave a curt nod. "Glad to hear it."

They talked for another moment before McCoy took his leave and left Rafael alone to resume dealing with the stack of police reports and witness statements on his desk.

It was little after six o'clock when Rafael got home. He was immediately greeted by the scent of what was if he had to guess, teriyaki chicken. He guessed Olivia was making some sort of stir-fry for dinner.

"¡Papi!" Noah called out from the living room where he was playing with his lego.

He glanced over at his son gave his son a warm smile. "¡Hola, chico! ¿Cómo estuvo la clase de baile hoy?" (Hi, Kiddo! How was dance class today?)

He started taking off his shoes and suit jacket as he listened to Noah's almost immediate response. "La clase estuvo bien. Trabajamos en nuestros giros hoy." (Class was good. We worked on our turns today.)

"Es fantástico," Rafael replied. "Me alegra que todavía te guste." He adopted a slightly more serious look. "¿Hiciste toda tu tarea?" (That's fantastic. I'm glad you still like it. Did you get all your homework done?)

The boy nodded. "Anjá. Tuve algunos problemas con mi tarea de matemáticas, pero Lucy me ayudó con eso." (Uh-huh. I had some problems with my math homework, but Lucy helped me with it.)

The pair chatted for another minute until Olivia popped her head around the corner, smiling at both Noah and himself. "Dinner's ready, boys!"

Both father and son nodded, heading towards the bathroom to wash their hands. On his way to the kitchen table, he gently grabbed Olivia, pulling her in for a quick kiss. "Dinner smells and looks great, mi amor. Thank you."

She smiled, pulling him in for another kiss. "You're very welcome."

Lowering his voice so that only his wife could hear it, he said, "We need to talk after the kids go to bed." At the look of concern on her face, he quickly added, "It's nothing bad, I promise, but we _do_ need to talk."

She nodded, giving him a small smile. "Alright."

As they sat down for dinner, they started chatting amicably in between bites of food, but Rafael had to laugh at the direction the conversation took when Noah asked them what superpower they'd want of they can have any superpower they wanted.

He loved that kid. He really did.


End file.
